Come What May
by Niaxi
Summary: When Morty and Anna get kidnapped by an unknown group can Yoh find them before they disappear for good or can his friends find their own way out of their situation.  Follows the ending of the Anime but with a few things taken from the Manga.
1. Chapter 1

**Authors note:** Ok so this is the first piece of fan fiction that I've ever published by myself so please be kind and leave a review if you wish as I would love to hear what people think of this so I can improve my writing style.

I would also like to thank Kovou (as she is known on here) for proof reading this for me and helping me edit it. I would also like to wish her luck with the rest of her own Shaman King fict The lust for Power, you should seriously check it out as it is really good.

I** don't** own Shaman King, as much as I wish I did.

**Chapter 1:**** Noise, Clouds and Pain.**

Hectic. That was one way of describing things. Pandemonium was another. Chaotic worked well too. So did frenzied. Either way regardless of which word one chose to use they all amounted to the same thing. The train station was busy. Everywhere you looked there were people and where there are people, there is almost certainly noise. As a general rule the more people you have gathered together in one place the more noise is generated as a result. This observation should come as no surprise to anyone as human beings as a species are a noisy one. Take for example a single human. On his (or her) own a single human makes relatively little noise when going about their day to day business. However add another human to the mix and the amount of noise generated increases exponential the reason? The vibration of ones vocal chords resulting in the propagation of sound waves from ones mouth or as humans themselves would refer to it, talking. Human beings like to talk, proven fact. Ask anyone and you will soon see what I mean. Either way regardless of whether it's a simple good morning greeting or a full blown argument, humans like to talk and talking leads to noise.

At this present moment in time Morty Oyamada was hearing a lot of noise. Sure there was the sound of foot steps rushing this way and that, the sound of trains coming and going, hell there was even a dog barking for no reason other than the fact that it could, however above all of that was the sound of people talking to one another.

"Which way's the toilet?" Morty would occasionally hear one traveler say to another as they made their through the crowds. "Have you all got your tickets?" was another common phrase Morty had heard this morning as he waited for his train. By far the most popular this morning though had been "Where the hell is the train?"

Where the hell is the train, that was what most of the passengers who were congregated on platform two of the train station were thinking, including Morty. Trains in Japan had a reputation for being the most efficient in the world and for good reason. The service was run so effectively that it was more of a surprise to passengers when a train was late than when it was on time. Irrespective of this however the situation for the passengers was thus, they were here and the train was not. Looking up Morty Oyamada turned his head as did everyone else who was gathered on the platform, towards the source of a new noise, one that made itself heard above all the others.

"Your attention please" the woman on the intercom said. "The 10:30 train to Funbari Hill has broken down and will be unable to complete its journey. A replacement train from the depot has been dispatched and will arrive here in 30 minuets. We apologies again for any inconvenience that this may have caused and thank you again for your patience." As the announcement ended Morty, along with almost everyone on the platform let out a groan. Now he was going to be late for sure. He was supposed to be meeting his best friends Yoh and Anna at 11:00am and now thanks to the delay was going to be late. Sighing he pulled out his mobile phone to text Yoh and tell him he would be late only to find that Yoh had beat him too it and sent a text of his own. Cursing his ringtone for not being loud enough to make itself heard over the noise of the station Morty read the text message then let out a low grumble.

Today was going from bad to worse he thought as he began composing a text of his own. The content of Yohs text meant one thing and one thing only. Anna was not going to be in a good mood when he finally met her in Funbari Hill.

##

The sun was reaching towards its peek in the cloudless sky, casting its warm rays down over the grateful residents of Funbari Hill who were taking full advantage of its generosity, to spend sometime out doors. March had been wet. The rain had only ever let up on a handful of occasions and when it had the clouds had still persisted as though not wanting to relinquish there hold over the sky, even if they had momentarily ran out of rain. April had started much the same, probably worse. It was as though the clouds had decided to become vindictive as well as persistent, quite possibly going as far as to think that it was the residents of Funbari Hill themselves that had been responsible for them being short on water during the few aforementioned dry days in March. Today however the sun seamed to have finally had enough of the mass sheet of grey that had covered the sky for over a month and had promptly for want of a better phrase, kicked it out. Now it was gone, not even a small white wisp remained to tell anyone who had just arrived in town, or just hadn't bothered to look out of a window that it had ever been in the first place.

Standing on the corner of one of the few quiet streets left in town was a teenage girl wearing a short black dress, a pair of dark sunglasses and a rather pissed off expression. Given the look on the girls face it was not inconceivable that the sun had not in fact kicked the storm clouds out of the sky, but rather that they had taken one look at the girls expression and decided that if she was here then it would be a lot safer for them not to be, for Anna Kyoyama was not in a good mood.

Standing on a street corner while, say waiting for a bus may occasionally tip ones mood towards the not so good side of the mood spectrum. Standing on a street corner in the rain while waiting for a bus may tip the scales slightly further. Standing on a street corner in the rain and having the bus you have been waiting on drive past you will most defiantly tip the scale into the "bad mood" part of the spectrum. Standing on a street corner with the sun splitting the pavement, while not requiring the service of a bus should not put one in a bad mood. Unless of course you've been standing on the same street corner for over an hour because your lazy fiancé found his bed more attractive this morning than you may just about have the same effect on ones mood as having waited for a bus in the pouring rain for an hour and then having it splash you with a large amount of icy cold water as it drives past. This was exactly how Anna Kyoyama was feeling at this present moment in time, only a bit less wet. Yoh, Morty and herself were all supposed to have met here an hour ago, that was until Morty had text her saying that Yohs his alarm clock hadn't woken him up and that he had only just stumbled into the bathroom.

Liar she had thought when she read it. She had bought that alarm clock for him specifically because it sounded like a ships fog horn when it went off. Hell it even woke all the neighbors in a 4 block radius when it went off. The fact that Yoh had slept in again was only a minor annoyance, the real annoyance was fact that he hadn't even bothered to text her himself, instead choosing to foist the job of telling her onto Morty, in the hope that she would use up all her rage on Morty and let him off with a much lighter punishment. Sadly though, for Yoh at any rate, she had not bitten Mortys head of, rather sent him a quick text telling him that it did not matter that he himself would be late, that he needn't hurry and that to tell Yoh that he had better get his butt here within the hour or that he would cease to have one.

So there she was. Left on a street corner like something that had been absent mindedly thrown out of some ones pocket. Her thoughts mulled over the many possibilities of how she might punish Yoh once she got her hands on him. Maybe she would punish Morty as well as he had been an accessory in the transition of her mood from relatively happy to uber pissed. From somewhere down the street a voice called out to her, drawing her mind away from images of Yoh and Morty doing her latest version of the electric chair, which now involved them holding a pair of very heavy weights at arms length while trying to keep their backsides high enough above the flame that was lit underneath them so as not to get burned. As the voice called out to her again she added a final mental note to her image, perhaps 5 hours was slightly too harsh for Mortys crime.

"Hey Anna" the voice called to her a third time as she turned her head to see a boy running towards her from down the street. It was Morty.

##

Yoh glanced at the time that was displayed in bright orange digits on his Oracle bell. Even though the shaman fight had been postponed indefinitely he'd grown so accustomed to wearing it that it was now a force of habit to place it on his wrist when he got dressed in the morning. Besides it has handy to have around as aside from being a way for the Patch to communicate with the tournaments combatants it also functioned as a wrist watch, a calculator, a map, a compass and many other things that he nor any of his friends had quite managed to figure out. It was even waterproof and had an addictive video game for those long bus rides.

Not that Yoh ever used the bus; if he did he would probably get off only to find Anna standing at the bus stop glaring at him for being lazy. Then he would probably find himself being made to run all the way back to where he had come from and then back to where he wanted to be, via the longest possible route of course. No it was better to be on the safe side and just walk everywhere lest he have to face the wrath of Anna. The wrath of Anna. That was something he would soon be facing no doubt about it. Not only had he decided to switch off his alarm clock before it woke him and the whole neighborhood up, he had also had the bright idea of getting Morty to text Anna to tell her he would be late instead of doing it himself. He really didn't think well when he was half asleep Yoh thought.

Having eventually woken up and realizing what time it was he had had to dive into the shower, get dressed, skip breakfast and hurriedly say goodbye to Amidamaru and Mosuke as he ran out of the door, the two ghosts preferring to spend the day fondly remembering old times while not being made to do house work by Anna. Realizing that the hour deadline that Anna had given him via Morty was fast running out Yoh quickened his pace, wondering whether or not even the Great Spirit itself would be able to foresee the amount of torture that Anna was undoubtedly planning on putting him through this time. Another glance at his oracle bell told him that he had a mere five minuets to make it to the corner outside the video arcade where they had all agreed to meet. Needless to say the chances of Anna actually letting him step foot inside the Arcade today were less than the amount of furyoku he was going to be left with once she had finished punishing him.

Placing his hand on the metal railing of the park fence Yoh vaulted it in one swift movement. As he landed on the other side his feet hit the ground running as he began to make his way across the park. By the time he had crossed to the other side of the park he was down to just two and a half minuets. Now almost sprinting Yoh exited the park and made his way round the corner onto the long road which contained amongst other things, the video arcade. As he made his way towards the arcade he could begin to make out the figures of his best friend and his fiancé. Even from here he could tell that Anna looked pissed.

"Hey guys" he shouted, still a good distance away from them. "Sorry I'm late…"

##

At about the same time as Morty had brought Annas attention away from her thoughts about extreme punishment and torture a white van had turned the very same corner that Yoh Asakura was soon to come round, onto the long road where the video arcade resided. The vans occupants consisted of three tall and rather well built men, two in the front and one in the back.

The one in the back of the van was currently surprising his comrades with snippets from the newspaper her was reading. The surprise for them being not so much the content of the article, as they had both skimmed over it themselves that morning but rather the fact that their associate was reading it, because as far as they were both concerned he didn't have enough brain cells to tie his shoe laces let alone read something.

"It says here that the share price in Oyamada Electronics has dropped as a result of the current investigation. Apparently Oyamada himself was involved in a series of dodgy dealings with some rather unsavoury Chinese characters…" the man in the back of the van said.

As he read on, sounding out the bigger words under his breath, the man in the front passenger seat signalled to the driver to pull over. The driver acknowledged his hand gesture and parked the van close to the kerb about five meters away from the intersection outside the video arcade.

"What are we stopping for" the man in the back said, abandoning his newspaper onto the dirty floor of the van as he moved himself from where he was sitting into a position where he could put his head between the seats in the front.

. "We've located the target" said the driver

"However there's a problem" added the man in the passenger seat. "They're not alone."

"So what's the problem?" the man in the back asked his companions.

"The problem Chao is that there are two of them" the driver responded.

"We should phone the boss. Let him decide how we should proceed" the front passenger ventured.

"Good idea Zhang. Let the boss make the decision" replied the driver.

"Why waste time lets just grab the both of them and be done with it" the one named Chao barked.

"No the boss said if there were any complications to contact him at once. Make the call Zhang" the driver said. The decision apparently made Zhang pulled out his mobile and scrolled through his contact list until he found the number he was looking for. Putting the phone to his ear Zhang waited on an answer.

After a few moments the familiar sound of his bosses' voice filled his ear. After a brief conversation Zhang hung up and put his phone back in his pocket. "Well…" the driver asked expectantly.

"The boss reckons we won't get a better chance than this. We take both of them and deal with the other one later" Zhang replied.

"Ok let's go. Masks on boys" the driver said as he pulled a black mask over his face and started the engine.

##

Anna turned towards the sound of her fiancés voice as a white van pulled in behind her and Morty, she gave it no notice. As far as she was concerned the only that mattered right now was which hand was going to slap him with once he was in range. Beside her Morty stood with a grin or his face as his best friend came into view

"Hey Yo…." Morty never got to finish his sentence as at that moment a gloved hand, holding a soft white cloth came from behind him and clamed it's self around his mouth, muffling his voice. He struggled then began to go limp as a sickly sweet smell filled his nose and coated his tongue. The next second Morty had been hoisted off the ground the hand still holding the cloth in place for good measure.

Seeing Morty being forcefully grabbed out of the corner of her eye Anna spun round and in one swift movement caught the man who had grabbed Morty on his left cheek with one of her trademark super painful slaps. As the blow connected the man stumbled backwards towards the van from the sheer force of it, never releasing his grip on the boy he held in his arms.

The back doors of the van swung open as Anna advanced on the Man "LET MORTY GO RIGHT NOW OR I'M GONNA…." Anna stopped dead in her tracks as she suddenly found herself facing a second man who was holding a gun pointed directly at her chest.

The man with the gun didn't even stop to breathe as his fingers twitched, squeezing the trigger of his gun. Anna let out a high pitched scream as the taser hit her, her body going into a spasm. The electric charge that flowed through her made her feel like every inch of her skin was on fire before the ground came rushing up to meet her.

Watching in horror Yoh began sprinting towards his friends. The sound of Annas scream only intensified the speed at which he tried to make up the distance his feet pounding on the tarmac. As he reached them the man who had taken hold of Morty had already entered the back of the van while the one who had tasered Anna now had a hold of her limp form and was climbing in after him. Not knowing what to do Yoh threw himself towards the man grabbed him round the shoulders. The man let go of Anna and stumbled backwards trying to shake Yoh off.

As they continued to struggle the Man inside the van, who was still holding a limp Morty like a rag doll in one hand, pulled Anna into the van with his other. Yoh fought to hold on as the man began thrashing around. Eventually the man managed to get hold of one of Yoh's arms and threw him roughly to the ground, Yoh's free hand catching his face mask and ripping it off as he went.

Severely winded Yoh looked up from where he had landed and saw clearly the face of the man who had tasered his fiancée. He was of Chinese origin with black hair, brown eyes and a tattoo of a Snake eating its own tail on his neck. Struggling to his feet Yoh could only watch as the doors to the van closed and the driver hit the gas peddle. He started running stumbling the first few steps as the van sped off down the street, trying in vain to catch up to it until it rounded a corner a vanished from sight.

"ANNNNAAAAA!" Yoh screamed in anguish as he fell to his knees. "Morty" he said softly as tears began to make their way down his cheeks. "NO!" he screamed out again as his fists came down hard on the cold road surface. It was his fault. It was all his fault. If he had just gotten up when he was supposed to none of this would have happened. If he hadn't been so lazy this morning he would probably have been sitting in a café somewhere right about now, eating ice cream and having a laugh with his friends. Not here on a cold piece of tarmac with no idea of where his friends were now being taken.

Letting out a final moan Yoh picked himself up off the ground trying to think, one thing was certain, he swore to himself, he would do whatever it took to find Anna and Morty and once he had he would ensure that whoever was responsible paid for kidnapping his friends. Especially for hurting Anna the way they had.


	2. Chapter 2

**Authors note: **Ok so here's the second chapter of Come What May. Again my thanks go out to Kovou for proof reading this and helping me edit it. I hope that everyone who read the first chapter enjoyed it and that you will like this chapter as well. Also please feel free to leave a review as all comments are welcome and I would like to get some feedback in order to improve my writing.

I **don't **own Shaman King.

**Chapter Two: Time, Boredom and Darkness**

Time is relative, although most physicists would disagree. To them time is merely a measurement device. Scientifically it is measured in seconds and each second is the same length as the one before it and the one before that and the one before that. That is not to say that there can ever be an exact measurement of it due to the fact that when anything is measured using some form of measurement device there is always some amount of error. That aside the point still remains that in this case the physicists are wrong. Not that I would say that to a room full of them as they can have very powerful glares. That and the fact that I am one myself, and that if I did go into a room full of my peers and declare that they were wrong about something they would probably throw me out and not let me back in, unless of course I came back with a cup of coffee and a biscuit for each of them, we do so like our jammy dodgers after all.

To get back to the point at hand time is relative and that is that. The reason for this is that time itself is a human invention and we humans change our minds about things. Take for example two people, person X and person Y. Say we then take person X and person Y and make them do a different task for the exact same amount of measured time, say one hour. If person X was made to do something they hate, say scrubbing a set of toilets while person Y was made to do something they really enjoyed such as sitting down and watching a film what would be the result? If at the end of the hour you were to ask both person X and person Y how much measured time they thought had passed you would almost certainly find that they would disagree. Person X who, having just spent an hour doing something that they hate would feel that more than an hour of measured time had passed whereas person Y who has been enjoying themselves, would feel that less than and hour of measured time had passed. What this tells us then is that time is in fact relative to the individual experiencing it and that it is governed by how the individual is reacting to their circumstances at that moment. That and that person X now smells like a toilet. Perhaps the experiment should be carried out again only this time making person Y scrub a set of toilets.

At this present moment in time Yoh Asakura was person X. Not because he smelled like a toilet but rather because for him time was passing more slowly. To Yoh it felt like an hour ago since he had watched the van that now contained his fiancé and best friend drive off out of sight. In reality it had only been about five minuets, time is relative after all.

The problem for Yoh at that moment was that he had absolutely no idea what to do. Staying here and feeling sorry for himself wouldn't help anyone but what could he do? He had to find them but how? The only clues he had to go on were that there were three of them, that they had a white van and that one of them was Chinese with a tattoo on his neck. Mulling this over in his head he could come up with only one conclusion, he needed help. Pulling out his mobile phone Yoh ran through the list of his friends in his head as their respective name's and numbers appeared on screen.

Joco was in America, Lyserg in England and Faust in Germany which ruled all three of them out right away. Trey and Rio were up north and out of reach by telephone, or sense for that matter. The same could be said for his family as well for there was no telephone at the Asakura home and it would take him days to get there. That left only one person.

##

Boredom is a curious thing. At some point or another every creature on the planet or indeed the whole universe (for it is the opinion of this author that planet earth is not the only planet on which there is life) has most likely experienced what humans would term boredom. Boredom can be defined as an emotional state experienced during periods lacking activity or when individuals are uninterested in the opportunities surrounding them or, in laymen's terms, I'm fed up with everything around me please god just let something happen. At this particular moment in time the second definition seemed most apt, for Len Tao was properly bored.

Sitting at his computer Len let out a loud sigh, a common occurrence when one is bored. The video game he had been playing for the past few hours had lost most of its appeal due to the fact that he had already defeated the more skilled opponents. Now all that were left were a few minor civilizations controlled by a group of inexperienced players who were nowhere near a match for him and his spirit guide Bason.

It had come as a surprise to him that Bason had such a good mind for the game although it made sense due to the fact that Bason had once been a military general in life, commanding an army was second nature to him. With his new found strategist combined with his own ability Len had went on to dominate every single game that he had played. At first this was highly enjoyable as crushing all opposition, regardless of it being in real life or a game, was one of Lens favourite past times. However, after a week or so of this boredom had begun to set in as there now existed no opponent who could challenge him. In fact the only reason that Len was still playing the game was that there was noting else for him to do here.

He had returned home to china with his sister, Jun, for the week so he could, (mild use of air quotes) see his family. Having seen them and dispensed with the usual pleasantries, or un-pleasantries in the case of his father, Len had soon discovered that there was absolutely nothing for him to do here apart from play his video games. Finally though something did happen, which is a good thing because if nothing happened then there would really be no story and therefore point in discussing the current boredom of Len Tao which I might add was about to end… right about… now.

Len almost leapt, startled, at the sound of his phone ringing having not heard the sound of the thing for almost a week. Scrambling out of his chair he glanced around his room for the device finally finding it under a volume of manga. Looking at the screen a grin crept over his face, turning it smug with some sort of self-satisfaction when he saw who was calling. Well this should provide a momentary escape at least Len thought as he answered the phone.

"Good Afternoon you have reached the world conquering Len the Great, what do you desire?" Len managed to say before quickly being cut off by the voice on the other end.

"I don't have time for your ego today Len I need your help" Yoh almost shouted down the phone at the Chinese shaman. Taken aback by his friend's current tone Len decided to skip the part about how he was currently ruler of the world, at least in his video games.

"Well there's no need to shout about it Yoh, what on earth is the matter with you?" he asked instead.

The response was immediate "Len I need your help. Anna and Morty have been kidnapped and I have no idea where they've been taken or where to start looking, please you've got to help me, are you at home? If so I'll come straight over." Yoh blurted out almost forgetting to breathe.

"Wait what?" Len shouted back to his friend. "What do you mean Kidnapped? What kind of crazy person would kidnap Anna! That's suicide." He glanced at Bason who floated nearby in his spirit ball mode. "Still I suppose it doesn't really matter. I'm sorry Yoh but I've been home in China for the past week, I'll make my way back to Japan ASAP to help you however it will take me at least five days to get there from here." Len said in almost sheer disbelief.

"I probably don't have five days" Yoh replied in almost desperation, the only chance of help he had evaporating with Len's last comment.

"No, your right, by the time I would get there your chances of finding them would be…" Len trailed off then said. "Perhaps there's another way in which I can help you. Tell me everything that happened with as much detail as possible". Len listened patiently as his best friend recounted to him everything that had happened that morning in Funbari Hill.

Once he had finished Len thought for a moment before saying "A Chinese man with an Ouroboros tattoo on his neck. Hmm, it's not much to go on is it…. but at least it's something. By the sounds of things this is probably the work of some sort of gang or criminal syndicate" he paused again. "I shall ask my father for help. Due to the nature of my family's…" He paused searching for the appropriate word. "… Dealings he knows of most of the different criminal organisations in both China and Japan. If anyone can tell us who they are it's him".

Yoh sighed in defeat "I guess it's better than nothing" he said sounding dejected.

For once Len didn't know what to say. He had never heard Yoh like this before and was never any good in situations which required him to say something comforting. After a moment of contemplation he finally decided on something which sounded suitable and blushing slightly despite the fact Yoh couldn't see him said; "Don't blame yourself Yoh it wasn't your fault. What's done is done and what you need to focus on now is helping them. The best thing you can do just now is go home and get some rest. I'll go and talk to my father and phone you back as soon as possible."

Yoh sighed down the phone, the sound of traffic echoed behind him as Len listened before continuing comfortingly. "Besides this is Anna and Morty we're talking about here. Morty may not be as strong as we are but he can look after himself and as for Anna… Well let's just say that I wouldn't want to be in or anywhere within a hundred mile radius of the shoes of those kidnappers when she finally comes to herself".

"Thanks Len. I owe you one" Yoh replied as he hung up the phone.

Hearing the phone go dead on the other end Len put his phone into his pocket.

"What was all that about Master Len" he heard Bason ask from behind him.

"It was Yoh" Len replied, sighing as he did so, he pushed up from his bed where he had been sitting. "I need to go talk to my father. Come Bason". Without any further explanation the Tao shaman exited his room, his guardian ghost floating close behind.

##

As he hung up the phone on what he had thought as his one remaining life line to finding his friends, Yoh Asakura realised that Lenny had been right. There was nothing he could do at this moment except go home and wait. The fight with the Chinese man had left him feeling tired and sore; he was not used to fighting someone without Amidamaru being joined with him. Pocketing his phone Yoh headed back along the road he had previously come running down, headed for home. Hopefully it would not take the Tao shaman long to get back to him with some helpful information….then again he had first hand experience on how difficult chats with En Tao were under normal circumstances.

He allowed himself a brief shadow of a smile that did not light his eyes as he imagined Len barrelling into his father's…throne room, or whatever that had been, while the latter enjoyed a cup of tea, pointing his sword on a stick at the man and demanding to know who had kidnapped Anna and Morty. This then leading to a very confused En, never having met Anna, getting a lecture complete with picture slides of all of Len's new friends and acquaintances'…for some reason Len was wearing a mortar board and using the Kwando as a pointer.

Shaking his head Yoh scolded himself and allowed his mind to slip back into misery.

##

It was dark, and…no, that was about it really. It was Dark, which was the only thing that Anna Kyoyama could clearly say about her surroundings at this moment in time. That and the constant drone of a car engine or to be more exact, a van engine. As her other senses slowly returned to her Annas brain tried to catch up with current events and establish what exactly had happened. One second she had been on her feet, bearing down on a man in a black mask who had snatched Morty the next… her body quivered as she remembered the pain the jolt electricity had caused her as it had passed through her body.

She had never experience pain like that before and never wanted to again. Beyond the memory of the pain she could remember nothing other than that her surroundings had become darker. From this she could only surmise that she had gone blind, unlikely, or that she been moved. Where she had been moved to she could not say for definite but she was pretty sure that she was now in the back of those males' van, which would account for why she could here the sound of an engine.

Upon reaching this conclusion her mind jumped back a step as she remembered Morty. He had already been captured before she had been tasered and it was unlikely he would have been able to free himself from the grip of such a large man. No, if she were here then it was almost certain that Morty was here also, but where…and what about Yoh? He had been running towards them as Morty had been grabbed. Had the men managed to grab both of them and escape? Had they waited until he too had gotten close and taken him as well? Or had they simply fended him off having already obtained what they had come for? She did not know. That was the simple truth of the matter. All she could hope for at this moment in time was that wherever Yoh was right now he was unharmed.

Before she could consider the matter further she felt something soft and soggy being pressed against her face. She let out a muffled scream but could do nothing to fight against it as her body had yet to recover fully from being tasered. As she breathed in the cold, sweet smelling vapour her head began to feel increasingly lighter. Slowly she slipped into the dark void of unconsciousness with one last lingering thought. Yoh wherever you are please, help me.


	3. Chapter 3

**Authors Note:** Ok so hear it is chapter three. I hope those of you who are reading this fict are so far enjoying it and that this chapter will encourage you to keep reading. As always my thanks to Kovou for proof reading and editing. And again (I'm beginning to sound like a broken record) any and all feedback is welcome. Please feel free leave a review or drop me a PM as I would love to hear what you guys and gals all think about the story so far and what I can do to improve future chapters. Anyway that's enough of me banging on about things as I do plenty of it in my chapters as it is.

I **don't** own Shaman king.

**Chapter 3: ****Tears, Ghosts and long distance calls. **

The Sun. The big orange thingy at the centre of our solar system which is the source of all life on planet Earth, looks like a beach ball. If you still don't know what I'm talking about just look towards the sky during the day and you should find it so long as it is not cloudy, the sky I mean not the Sun. Anyway If you are reading this I would expect you all to have seen the sun at some point, if not recently. I know it's difficult but I went through the phase of sleeping all day and sitting up all night on the internet too. That aside as I have previously stated the sun is the source of all life on Planet Earth and continues to sustain it to this day and will continue to do so until such a time as it decides to go super nova. At which point it will decide that it has had enough of this sustaining planet Earth crap and promptly, over the course of about 15 seconds, blow up and take us and half the other planets in the solar system with it (Technically speaking it will actually implode which will then result in an explosion but that's just a minor detail). That is of course assuming that it hasn't already devoured the Earth as it becomes increasingly more massive towards the end of its life span.

If we are still here at the point when it decides to go super nova then it is worth noting that we will find out that it has done so about eight minuets later at which point we should just about have enough time to go oh shi… before it takes us out. So that's about it really. The Sun gave us life and is going to take it away once it is fed up baby sitting, doesn't it suck to be us. The importance of the Sun then should now be a fact upon which we can all agree, unless of course you still happen to believe that the world is flat in which case the rest of us should begin to question your sanity. There is however one person that I have come across that does not consider the sun important. I once had the privilege of reading the answers to one of this individuals high school science tests in which he was asked the question: What is more important to life on Earth the Sun or the Moon? The answer he gave was as follows: The Moon because the Moon gives us light at night when we need it whereas the Sun gives us light during the day when we don't need it. Let us all hope that this individual does not end up working for the good people at NASA whose job it is, amongst other things, to tell us things such as when the sun is most likely go super nova.

In which case when the sun does eventually go super nova, which it will, it most defiantly will be a case of OH SHI… Putting all that to one side let us return to Funbari hill where at this point in time the Sun is still doing its job and shining brightly in the sky, which was still free of clouds even though their vanquisher was no longer in a place where she could see them.

The afternoon was getting on by the time Yoh Asakura had managed to walk back home. His ribs were still sore from where he had had a disagreement with the ground almost two hours earlier. As he walked into the house he shared with Anna he could hear laughter coming form the back garden. It must be Mosuke and Amidamaru he thought as he followed the path round to the back of the house.

"And so the barman says to his wife, that wasn't me in bed last night it was the donkey!"

More laughter followed as Yoh heard what was obviously supposed to be the punch line to some sort of joke his guardian ghost had just told. Sure enough as he rounded the corner he could see Amidamaru and his best friend Mosuke sitting/floating beside a tree in fits of hysterics, obviously they had been enjoying themselves on their day off.

As Yoh approached them both ghosts looked up, Amidamaru instantly noticing the expression on his partner's face which he new meant that something was amiss.

"Lord Yoh" he said in his usual proud voice. "We did not expect you back so soon, is something wrong?" the samurai asked the boy.

Before Yoh could answer Mosuke ventured his opinion "Did Lady Anna send you home as punishment for being late again?" He had clearly not read the expression on Yohs face as well as Amidamaru had.

"That was not funny Mosuke. Something has clearly happened to upset Lord Yoh and I very much doubt that Lady Anna is the cause of it" the samurai scolded. Then he noticed the fact that Yoh was alone. "Please Lord Yoh tell us what has happened? Has something happened to Lady Anna and Lord Morty?" he asked, sounding very concerned.

Yoh couldn't contain himself any more. He had managed to keep himself together for the entire trip back home and during the conversation with Len but now he could do so no longer. Yoh fell to his knees in the same manner he had done so earlier on the road, tears rolling down his cheeks as he did so. The two ghosts looked at him in shock for they had never seen the boy like this before. Between his sobs they managed to hear him say something.

"It was my fault" Yoh mumbled between his sobs. The two ghosts continued to look at the boy wondering what was his fault but neither of them wanting to push for an answer.

"It was my fault" Yoh said again "If I hadn't been so lazy this morning this would never have happened. IT WAS MY FAULT!" Yoh practically screamed the last part as he beat his fists on the ground, much in the same way he had done earlier only with more force. Seeing his friend like this Amidamaru could remain silent no longer.

"Please Yoh tell us what has happened. Where are Lady Anna and Lord Morty?" the ghost said again, not wanting to condemn Yoh with the boys own words until he had heard the full story. After a few moments Yoh sat up, the last of his tears beginning to dry on his face. Composing himself he prepared to tell the two ghosts what had happened.

"Anna and Morty are gone" he finally said, his voice shaking as he did so. "As I ran up the road towards the arcade I saw two men get out of a van and one of them grabbed Morty. Anna hit him with her trademark roundhouse but before she could do anything else the second man shot her with something that looked like a taser. She screamed and it was the worst sound that I've ever heard. By the time I got there they had put them both into their van. I tried to stop them but got thrown to the ground. When I got up I just managed to see that one of them was Chinese with a tattoo on his neck before he got into the van and it drove of." As Yoh finished Amidamaru and Mosuke both gasped in horror. After a few moments of silence Amidamaru spoke up.

"Do not worry yourself Yoh. Mosuke and I will find them. We shall comb the city ourselves and ask every other ghost that we know to help us. We shall not rest until Lady Anna and Lord Morty are back here safe and sound." As the samurai finished Mosuke nodded in agreement, still in shock at the news of his partners kidnap. "Amidamaru is right" he eventually said. "We shall search the entire city and leave no stone unturned."

"You should not blame yourself Yoh. This sounds as though it was a premeditated act it was not your fault. We shall depart at once and rest assured we will find them." Amidamaru said, trying to sound reassuring. "While we are away try to get some rest. You will be unable to help either of our friends once we find them if you are not fully rested." As he finished Yoh looked up at the two ghosts.

"Thank you, both of you" Yoh said, his voice regaining some of its strength. "While you are gone I'll try to contact grandpa and see if he can get Tamara to scry for them. I already spoke to Len and he said he would speak to his father for me to see if he could give me any information. Between us we're bound to find them" Yoh finished sounding more like his normal self. The two guardian ghosts nodded in agreement and then smiled at Yoh.

Yoh watched on as the two ghosts floated off into the house to round up the other ghosts before heading out on their search. After a moment Yoh headed into the house as well. He would need to calm himself down a bit more before he attempted to telepathically contact his grandpa in Izumo.

##

The trip to monument hill cemetery was largely uneventful. Having rounded up all the other ghosts in the house including the old man from the toilet, whom Anna had surprisingly not banished to ninth circle of hell after the first time she had used said toilet, Amidamaru and Mosuke had collected as many of the other ghosts that they new en rout to the cemetery.

Now there was a group of over ten ghosts all heading towards the cemetery, where the two ghosts who were leading the group hoped to get as many more as they could to join them in their search. Entering the graveyard Amidamaru and Mosuke headed straight to the top of the hill where Amidimarus memorial still stood. Looking down upon the assembled group of ghosts the two friends looked at each other and had a silent conversation in which they agreed that since Amidamaru had know most of the assembled ghosts far longer than Mosuke that it should be he that addressed them.

"My friends" Amidamaru began. "I thank you all for coming here on such short notice. You all know of and have met the three shaman* who live here in Funbari hill. Since they arrived here they have sought each of us out and tried to help us in some way, be it by reuniting myself with my best friend Mosuke or simply having a conversation with us. They have, in some way however small, made each of our afterlives better and now it is time for us to repay our debt. Two of them, Lady Anna and Lord Morty, were kidnapped this morning and it is up to us to help Lord Yoh find them. I ask only that any of you who agree with me, join Mosuke and myself as we search the city." As the samurai finished he glanced towards the blacksmith who was floating by his side, his face practically in awe at the way his friend had addressed the assembled ghosts- who began to murmur amongst themselves, and then one by one pledged their assistance to the two who were standing on top of the hill. As the murmuring began to settle Mosuke spoke up.

"Thank you" he began. "Thank you all. Can you please divide up into pairs and then form a line. Amidamaru and I will then assign each pair an area of the town in which to search. Once you have searched your area return here and report anything that may help us find our friends. Apart from Lady Anna and Lord Morty themselves the only thing we know is that the kidnapers used a white van and at least one of them was Chinese with a tattoo of a snake eating its own tail on his neck."

As he finished there was a rush of ghostly movement as the ghosts began to follow Mosukes instructions. Soon there was a long line of ghosts floating two by two in front of the samurai and the blacksmith. Once the line had formed the two guardian ghosts began giving instructions to each pair in turn. Once they had all departed to there respective locations Amidamaru and Mosuke were left alone on top of the hill.

"What if we can't find them?" Mosuke asked his friend, his voice laced with worry.

"We will find them Mosuke. Do not worry. If for some reason that we can not, I am sure that either Master Yohmei or Lord Len will be able to provide us with some form of assistance" the samurai replied reassuringly. "Either way we should head out ourselves our location will not search itself." He chuckled at his closing remark as he and Mosuke floated of to search a far out region of the city.

(*Technically only one of them is a shaman as Anna is an Itako and Morty is still a shaman in training, under one of Anna's specialized torture regimes of course.)

##

Tea. The solution to almost all of life's problems, at least in Great Britain at any rate. Regardless of the situation there always seams to be a blend of varying strength and quantity of milk and sugar to handle it. Whether you have just come back after a long walk round the supermarket, received some bad news over the phone or having a casual get together with friends a pot of tea is never far away. At this point I could choose to talk at length about tea. For example I could go into great detail about several key tea related events in history such as the Boston tea party or when the monk Yosai first brought tea to Japan.

Another area that I could choose to discuss would be the different varieties of tea from British classics such as Earl Grey right through to more obscure varieties like Korean Ginseng. After, if the mood took me I could go on and on about the different ways people like to have their tea from the basic bag in hot water all the way to the seventeen sugars and half pint of milk. However I am not going to discuss any of these aspects of tea because I for one can't stand the stuff and have absolutely no intention of banging on about it as though my blood were made of it. So, avoiding a rather lengthy and ultimately boring subject let us return to Yoh Asakura who was at this point about to drink a cup of tea, green tea to be exact.

Yoh picked up the now boiled kettle and brought it over to the china tea pot which sat on the table. Inside the pot were a bunch of green tea leaves to which he added the hot water. After placing the kettle back on the stove Yoh picked up the tea pot along with a single cup and brought it through to the living room.

Once in the living room he placed the pot and mug on the table then picked up the match book that had been sitting on its surface. Striking a match he then proceeded to light a single candle and a stick of sandalwood incense; he would need its effect to help him clear his mind.

Placing the matchbook back where he had found it Yoh reached into his pocket and placed his mobile beside it before he sat down cross legged on the floor in front of the table, wincing as he did for his ribs were still sore. Once he was comfortable he picked up the tea pot and filled his cup with the green tea, it would help to calm him and allow him to more easily empty his mind. Holding his tea and waiting for it to cool Yoh allowed his mind to wander. The only problem was no matter what he tried to think about his thoughts always came back to Anna. He suddenly realized how quiet it was.

He had never known the house to be so quiet it was unnatural. Even before Anna had moved in there was always some sort of noise being made by one or other of the ghosts that haunted the building but now even they weren't here. Yoh didn't have time to ponder this further as even this thought brought him back to Anna. As he sipped his tea Yoh finally gave in to his minds wishes and allowed it to focus on his memories of her. Maybe by thinking about her for a bit he would be able to not think about her when he needed to clear his mind. It was screwed up logic, he new that, but he had no other choice as he was running out of ideas and his mind was being very persistent over the matter.

Drinking more of his tea Yoh let thoughts of Anna flood his mind. He thought back to when they were growing up together in Izumo, back to the time when she had saved his life and then asked for him as repayment. He had agreed unconditionally of course and not just because she had saved his life but because he actually loved her. Ask any of his friends and they would probably tell you that he put up with Anna and did what she said because she was so terrifying. This was only a half truth however. The full truth of the matter was that he, Yoh Asakura, was in love with Anna Kyoyama and that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her.

Then it hit him. In all the time they had spent together and after everything they had been through he had never told her. He knew of course that she knew he loved her in the same way that he knew she loved him even if she did make him do torturous workouts. Either way he now felt terrible over the fact that he had never bothered to utter those three simple words to her. His mind was clear now, focused. Even if it took him the rest of his days he would find Anna, if only to utter those three simple words to her when he did.

Downing the last of his tea Yoh prepared to meditate in an attempt to contact master Yohmei. Then his heart sank as a sickening thought crossed his mind. After all his thoughts about Anna he had ignored the fact that his best friend had also been kidnapped.

Almost feeling worse than when he had sat down Yoh poured himself another cup of tea, hopping that once he had finished this cup he could finally settle his mind. Thinking back to Morty Yoh tried to remember all the fun they had had before and during the shaman tournament. Even the time when Anna had forced the two of them to do the electric chair for an hour had been fun purely because they were spending time together. Excluding Anna, Morty had been his first proper friend and the first person outside his family who had accepted him for who and what he was. As he remembered how he had treated Morty after his defeat by Faust Yoh felt a pang of guilt. It hadn't been what he had said so much but the way he had said it, so convincingly telling the boy they were no longer friends and the wrenching pain he had felt in his heart when Morty had so readily believed him.

Yet even after everything that he had said Morty had still not given up on their friendship. Hitching a ride with Rio, Morty had made his way to Yohs home to confront Yoh and prove to him that their friendship had made both of them stronger. On contemplating these memories Yoh suddenly realized that he needed Morty in his life almost as much as he needed Anna and that without both of them he would not be the person he was.

His mind settled once more, Yoh finished the last of his second cup of tea and placed the empty cup on the table; he then shut his eyes and began the mental calming exercises Yohmei had taught him, focusing on his breathing.

Imagine a room. Just an empty room, four walls a ceiling and a floor will do no Knick-knacks or other rubbish loitering around the place. Now into that room place an imaginary version of Yoh Asakura.

The room you have imagined is now Yoh's room. It is a visual representation of the mind of the real Yoh Asakura. Now add a door to Yoh's room so he can leave if he wishes. Now try to imagine Yoh's room in an immense sea of black. To keep things as simple as possible we shall ignore the fact that there are actually hundreds upon hundreds of other unconnected rooms sharing this sea of black. Instead let us imagine that only one other room exists besides Yoh's. In this new room place an imaginary version of Yohs Grandfather Master Yohmei, while you are at it give him a door as well.

Returning to Yoh's room let him walk towards the door and open it, revealing the sea of black and somewhere in the distance a faint glow that both Yoh and now we know is Yohmei's room. For Yoh to be able to talk to Yohmei two things must be done. First Yoh must make some sort of bridge or corridor between the two rooms and secondly Yohmei must answer his door. Since we have already simplified the situation, in that we have ignored every other room between Yohs and Yohmei's, the task of creating a corridor along which Yoh can travel should be straight forward. Are you all still with me? Good…Now imagine Yoh walking along this corridor so that he is now standing outside Yohmei's door. Imagine then Yoh knocking on the door and Master Yohmei answering it.

What we have just imagined here is a rather crude and simplified model of how Yoh managed to contact his Grandfather telepathically however in this case it will do just fine for the progression of the story. To simplify maters even further we shall treat the conversation between the two as though they are actually face to face rather than four hundred miles apart. After all this is Telepathy.

"Grandpa are you there?" Yoh asked, hoping that his grandfather would answer. After a few moments of silence Yohmei answered.

"Yoh my boy it is good to hear from you. I sensed that something was not right today so I am not surprised that you called, but wouldn't a telephone have been easier and cost less furyoku?"

The mental representation of Yoh at this point frowned. "You had the telephone taken out Grandpa; remember the discussion about modern technology interfering with your spiritual divinations?"

Yohmei considered his grandson. "Oh yes….perhaps that is why we no longer receive channel 46…Anyway I assume you did not contact me simply to discuss the modern appliances of the Asakura household." It was not a question merely a statement of fact.

Yoh seemed grave "No..." he responded seriously.

"Then tell me what has happened so I may assist you in whatever way I can" Yohmei said as a mental representation of a smoking pipe appeared in his hand.

"I'm glad I was able to get hold of you. To be honest with you I was unsure whether or not I would be able to do this over such a long distance." Yoh replied. At this point he then began recounting the days events for the third time while Master Yohmei listened tolerantly, smoking away. Once he was done Yoh waited patiently for his grandfather's response.

Yohmei removed the pipe from his figurative lips and frowned, the lines on his wizened old face appearing deeper. "This news is indeed a shocking revelation; I wish that I was there to help you. I shall have young Tamara scry for both Anna and Morty immediately. In the mean time the only thing I can suggest that you do is that you attempt to contact Anna as you have me. I am sure that if she is able to answer you she will."

"Thank you Grandpa" Yoh replied. "I'll go try to contact Anna and wait for you to get back in touch."

"Do not worry my boy. We shall help you find both Anna and Morty. I shall be in touch as soon as I can" Yohmei replied. As the pair said a final goodbye Yoh watched as the imaginary Yohmei proceeded to vanish along with his pipe, his door closing behind him.

Walking back along the corridor the boy returned to his own room and felt its warm embrace envelop him with comforting furyoku before he was forced to re-focus his energy and fish into the sea of black beyond the confines of his mind. It was time to try and find Anna.


	4. Chapter 4

**Authors note: **Ok so here we are chapter 4. Yet again, I know it's getting old now, my thanks to Kovou for helping me edit this thing. Ok so before we get to the actual chapter I would like to offer one of you the chance to star in the next chapter, as I require a volunteer at a certain point and I thought it would be cool if it was one of you guys/gals. So if you would like to be said volunteer all you need to do is leave a review for either this chapter or one of the previous ones. If more than one of you leaves a review then I will pick someone at random! ^_^ I will then PM the winner to let them know. I'll wait a few days before posting chapter five so that anyone who wishes to enter can.

I **don't **own Shaman King.

**Chapter 4: Electricity, Arguments and More Pain.**

Electricity, what a fantastic phenomena it is. It is the life blood of the modern world, everybody wants it and everybody needs it. It has a hand in almost every argument on the planet. From government offices all around the world who may be discussing more environmentally friendly ways of producing it, all the way down to the people next door, who are currently arguing over what they are going to watch on television and being very loud about it to boot. In fact one could go as far to say that without electricity everything would just stop.

This is in fact no exaggeration as human beings themselves run on electricity, literally. I could spend a while here discussing exactly how human beings run on electricity but there is not much point, that's why we have Wikipedia after all. Instead lets just take it as proven fact that humans run on electricity in almost the same way that the laptop I am currently using to write this does, only don't try to plug one into the mains to charge it up as it will not end well.

As well as running on it the human body also reacts in a specific way when an external source passes through it. Let us go back to the idea of plugging a human into the mains to charge them up, again I would not recommend that you try this because as I previously stated it will not end well. If we did however for some reason decide to do this what you would observe would be that all of their hair, assuming they had some to begin with, would stand on end. The other observation that you would make would be the contraction of all the muscles in their body, hence why if you close your hand around a live wire you will find it very hard to let go.

Another thing that one should know about when electricity passes through ones body is that it hurts and when I say hurts I mean really hurts, just ask the poor person that we plugged into the mains earlier. Moving on we can summaries our findings as thus. Humans need electricity to live but humans and external sources of electricity don't mix. An example of Humans and external sources of electricity not mixing well can be seen in the creation of the taser, a device whose purpose is solely designed around this principle. If you recall the usefulness of one of these devices has already been seen. The point in a taser is that it can incapacitate a person without causing any lasting damage, very handy then if you need to subdue someone who is being rather unruly but you don't want to permanently damage them. In case you are wondering why I am discussing this at this moment in time, it is because at some point in the near future a taser is going to be used on someone. Unfortunately however, for Anna Kyoyama at least, it is her it shall be used on, again.

As Morty awoke from his chemically induced sleep he was aware of three things. The first was that he was lying on a cold stone floor, the second being that it was quite dark and thirdly that he could hear raised voices that were quite close by. From the first two he quickly realized that he was no longer standing outside the arcade, rather that he was somewhere else entirely. Sitting up in order to get a better grasp on where he might be he soon realized that this may not have been the best idea he had ever had and quickly regretted it. As his head began to hurt as a side effect of the drug that had been used to sedate him Morty groaned. When you have a sore head it is often helpful to avoid things such as computer screens or strong smells. It is also helpful to avoid loud noises. Unfortunately for Morty he was unable to do anything to prevent the noise, which was getting progressively louder now, from reaching his ears and causing him more pain.

"I KEEP TELLING YOU THAT IT WAS NOT MY FAULT, THE DOOR GOT STUCK" Morty heard one voice almost shout.

"WELL IF YOU HAD BOTHERED TO FIX THAT LOCK LIKE I TOLD YOU TO THE OTHER WEEK IT WOULDN'T HAVE GOT STUCK, SO'S IT IS YOUR FAULT" he heard a second voice shout back.

"I don't see why you're still complaining anyway" the first voice said in a slightly lower tone. "She's only a broad and there's not much of her to boot. You've been hit by guys a lot bigger than her" the first continued.

"If I had been blindfolded I would have swore that she was a six foot man with arms the size of tree trunks. What the hell she did to generate that kind of power I don't know but it hurt more than any blow I've ever taken before. And it is your fault" the second voice retorted.

"Come off it she's only a girl you are totally exaggerating and overreacting. And it was not my fault" the first voice replied.

"Does THIS look like I am exaggerating" the second man said. "And it WAS your fault. Why don't we let her hit you when she wakes up and then we'll see who is overreacting" he finished.

Upon hearing this last remark Morty glanced around and found Anna lying on the floor a few feet away from him. By the look of her she was out cold. He almost laughed inside as the two men's argument now made perfect sense. One of them had obviously been hit by either Anna's trademark roundhouse or her legendary left and had not enjoyed the experience in the slightest. As he began to move over to his unconscious friend a third voice spoke.

"Quit it." it said. "I'm sick of hearing this stupid, pointless argument, what's done is done so kiss and make up. We did what the boss ordered and that's what matters. Anyway while you too were busy shouting at one another it appears that Shorty there has woken up".

Morty froze and turned in the direction of the voice. As he did so he could see that he, along with Anna, were in some sort of cell consisting of three brick walls enclosed by a set of iron bars beyond which he could make out three figures sitting at a table with a dim light on its surface.

Slightly startled by their comrades sudden input, for he had remained silent throughout the whole argument, the two men got to their feet as did the one who had just spoken.

From Mortys right there was a loud groan which signaled that Anna must have regained consciousness.

"Anna" Morty said as he made his way over to the girl.

"What is it Morty?" she replied in a rather tired sounding voice.

"We're in some sort of cell and there are these guys coming towards us and I don't know where we are and I think we could be in trouble and I don't know where Yoh is" Morty said in a panicked voice. On hearing all of this Anna got to her feet. She may have looked slightly tired but to Morty she was still as fearful as ever.

"Uhh Anna what are you going to do" Morty said, now looking slightly worried.

"Let me handle this Morty" the Itako replied as she slowly walked towards the bars.

"Uhh Anna I don't think this is a good idea" Morty ventured as he realized what Anna had meant by handle it. "We don't know who these guys are or what they're capable of" he finished.

"Be quiet Shorty I said I'd handle it" Anna retorted her voice becoming stronger now.

"But Anna…" Morty began but stopped as she turned her head to glare at him, her eyes turning yellow. As he became silent Morty new there was nothing he could do. He had known Anna long enough to know that you did not cross her when she was in this sort of mood lest you wanted to find yourself in a cardboard box at the side of the road three weeks later, just ask Trey about that, he still hadn't found all of his body parts after the time he had asked her to make him a sandwich to go with the watermelon he had stolen.

Sighing, Morty edged his way closer to the bars as the men who were on the opposite side stopped in front of them. With them now up close Morty could see their faces more clearly. They were all of Chinese origin with sort black hair and thick muscles. Before he had time to examine each of them in turn Anna broke the silence.

"Ok, shall we try doing this the civil way first? Who are you, what do you want with us, where are we and, most importantly, what have you done with my Yoh" she said in a cold Anna like way.

You had to hand it to Anna Morty thought. Even in a situation like this she still sounded as though she was in charge. The only problem though was he new exactly what that tone meant. To him that tone said that if those men didn't tell her exactly what she wanted to know and use the correct amount of letters when doing so, then Anna was going to become the holly terror of which he, Yoh and everyone else who knew her were scared to death of, the only problem with death being that to Anna it was merely the difference between two slices of bread from the same loaf.

Looking at the men Morty could see that they were slightly taken aback by the way Anna was carrying herself, giving her and Mortys current circumstances. The man who had noticed that Morty was awake looked directly at Anna and smiled. Oh his colleagues were going to have fun with her he thought to himself and he chuckled.

"Well I'll leave you lot to get better acquainted. The boss requires me elsewhere" he said to his comrades. "I've left the van keys on the table. Have fun" and with that he turned away from the cell and headed for the door. As he reached it he suddenly had a thought.

"And don't forget that Mr. Kido's associates will be here tomorrow to finalize the arrangements for the next shipment so go easy on the beer…eh?" and with that he exited the room leaving the other two men to deal with Morty and Anna, who was now becoming exceptionally pissed off at having been ignored. Turning to face there captives the two remaining men glanced at one another before one of them decided to answer Anna. It was not however as you may have already figured, the answers that Anna was demanding.

"Now you Listen to me bitch and listen well. You are in no position to be making demands. You will keep your mouth shut and be a good girl or we'll…" As you might expect this sort of response did not go down well with Anna and so before then man had even finished telling her what they would do if she was not as they had put it a good girl, she erupted. It was not the level of her voice which terrified Morty as Anna Kyoyama was not one for shouting but rather the way in which she said it that made him want to be as far away from the blond girl as he could get, in this case about four meters was his limit.

"Ok you cloth heads first of all I am a lady and a lady deserves to be treated with respect" she began as Morty winced. "Secondly, when you address me you will refer to me as Miss Anna. Thirdly, when I ask a question I expect it to be answered."

"Uhh Anna..." Morty said weakly as he noticed one of the men drawing a weapon. Anna ignored him however and continued her rant.

"And finally you're going to tell me right now what you have done with my Yoh or I'm…"

Anna let out a piercing scream as for the second time today the taser hit her square in the chest. As she crumpled to the floor Morty found his voice again

"Are you guys crazy? You can kill her with one of those things!" he almost screamed at the two men.

"Shut it Shorty. Unless you want me to taser you as well…" the man who had fired the taser barked at Morty, who quickly fell silent.

"Now let that be a lesson to the both of you" the second man said, as the first knelt down to remove the taser wire from Annas limp form. "If either of you speak before spoken to or do anything else that we do not instruct you to do then you will be restrained and punished where necessary. We have very kindly left you in relative comfort i.e. unbound. However if you so much as breathe without our say so we will have no issue with making things a lot less comfortable. Do I make myself clear?" the second man continued. Morty nodded as he looked towards Anna. She was breathing he noticed but her body had not fully recovered for the jolt it had been given.

"Now we have to leave to go and deal with some things unrelated to you. When we come back make sure that little miss hot head here understands the rules Shorty."

With that the two men turned and headed for the exit. As they did so the light caught the left cheek of the man who had just spoken and Morty could see clearly the large purple bruise he wore. It looked like it had been Annas trademark roundhouse that he had been hit with Morty thought as the two men left, leaving him to take care of Anna.


	5. Chapter 5

**Authors Note: **A cloud of eider down draws around me softening the sound, Sleepy time when I lie... Lol sorry. I was listening to the Pink Floyd album Meddle while I typed this note and I accidentally started to type part of the lyrics so thought I would finish. The track's called A pillow of winds for any of you who are interested.

Anyway moving on, chapter five is here at last. Thanks to both Kovou and Cookie Crumble for reviewing. As promised one of you will feature in part of the chapter so I hope you enjoy. As always thanks to Kovou (hello again) for helping me to edit this and all comments, thoughts and general ramblings are welcome, so long as they are not about broccoli, as I cant stand the stuff.

I **don't** own Shaman King or the aforementioned Pink Floyd track and album.

**Chapter 5****: Nothing, rooms and return calls.**

Nothingness. Nothing is the absence of matter. In mathematics if you divide by nothing you get infinity hence it is only natural to conclude that the two are linked. Just don't try and solve the equation x divided by zero equals infinity, for x, as it really messes with your head. Either way lets move on from here before someone actually tries to solve this equation, succeeds, and consequently rips the universe apart as a result.

The point I was trying to make was however was that nothing is supposed to be the absence of matter. As you may or may not have concluded the complete absence of matter is impossible. To explain this let us consider an open system with no boundaries the best example of this being our universe. In a completely open system mater is allowed to enter and leave as it sees fit, as long as it has the right passport and is not carrying anything sharper than a banana. In this sort of system, if we try to remove all the matter we simply find that because the system is open it is in contact with the area where we have decided to chuck all of our universes matter, thus we do not have nothing in our universe – but rather a lot of very angry space stuff concentrated in a single area and there is nothing worse than a pile of very angry space stuff, just ask the boy's at NASA about that.

The second situation we shall consider is a closed system, say a simple glass jar with a lid. If we were to make a hole in the lid and attach a vacuum pump then place the lid on the jar then turn the pump on what would happen. The result you might be tempted to think would be that we would be left with absolutely nothing in the jar this however is incorrect. True the vacuum pump would indeed remove the contents of the jar down to the last molecule, however we would still be left with the jar and because we are dealing with a closed system the boundaries of the system, in this case the jar, is part of the system itself and since the boundaries have matter the system has matter.

From these two simple thought experiments we can thus deduce that nothingness is in fact only an idea and not a physical impossibility, unless of course we turn all the matter in the universe into energy in which case - no matter no problem. …Except that we would no longer be there to observe the effect so it doesn't count. So now that I have made my point, proved it, disproved it, and then said that it doesn't count let us make use of our new ideas on nothingness to help us expand on our model of telepathic conversations.

When we last discussed our model of the telepathic plane we discussed the idea of a sea of black separating the two rooms. The problem with this simplification is that it implies that there is nothing but the two rooms in this plane and that this nothing is black, both of these are in fact incorrect. If our little model can be considered a two bedroom flat then the reality of the situation is that the telepathic plane is in fact a one hundred story hotel with elevators that do not just go up and down. Every person on the planet has a room on this plane but only those who are in touch with their sixth sense are generally aware of it.

By adding this new idea to our previous model we see that the model suddenly becomes a lot more crowded. With the rooms that are close-by much easier to make out than those that are long distances away. If you were to start from Yoh's room now and attempt to find Yohmei's you would most likely be there for a very long time and I will say this now, I am not going looking for anyone who gets themselves lost as I have far more important things to do than to chase after wandering minds.

So how do we find Yohmei's room now? The answer is that we don't as we are looking for Anna's room instead. So how do we find Anna's room?...it's always questions with you people. I suppose the answer then would be that this is where a person's aura comes into play.

Each person is an individual and is unique thus everybody has a unique aura. A persons aura is part of who they are and their room is a visual representation of there mind. Logically then if we knew what someone's aura was like we could use this information to help us find their room, like finding names in the yellow pages. A good way to think of the person's aura is to think of it as their rooms wallpaper, only you can never completely redecorate.

Yoh Asakura knew the aura of Anna Kyoyama well. In fact he knew it so well that he should have been able to at least locate her room even if he could not make contact with her. So it came as a massive shock to him when he could not find his fiancés room anywhere.

As has been previously stated a persons room is simply a representation of a persons mind in our now rather complicate model. As long as a person is alive their room should appear in the telepathic plane, even if they are unable to answer their door. To help us further understand whether or not a person can answer their door let us look at a few general states of the human body and mind, and then how this affects their room. Since we are dealing with people who are in tune with their sixth sense we shall only consider how the different states affect them as they differ for people who are unaware of their sixth sense.

Take for example a shaman, any shaman at all, say Len Tao. Len Tao is a shaman therefore he is aware of his sixth sense and thus aware that his room exists on the telepathic plane. If Len were awake and we were to knock on his door, because he is aware of his room he will be aware that someone is trying to contact him telepathically. He would then promptly answer his door only to tell us to bugger off and to use some other shaman for our explanation; it appears that Len is not in a good mood at the moment. Having now established that Len can answer his door while awake let us now wait until he is asleep and go knock on his door again.

Four hours later Len has gone to bed and is now in a deep sleep, probably dreaming about doing painful things to uninvited guests. This time when we go to Lens door we see a sign on it that reads. I am asleep, Knock on my door and I will kill you horribly, that includes you as well Bason. Looks like Len really doesn't want to be disturbed, too bad. Since Len is in a natural sleep part of his mind is still aware of his room and so, with some urging and persistence, he can still answer it. So this time when we knock on Lens door not only does he answer it but he does so while wearing a pair of silk pajamas and carrying his Kwando because his room is a figurative plane of existence and in it Len can make himself and items appear by thinking of them so you see….oh shit I think we might be in trouble this time folks, never mind, see you all later.

Ok, tour group B, has everyone still got their travelling buddy? No a hand doesn't count unless it's still attached Mr. Johansen. Anyway having all escaped from a very pissed of Len, has anyone seen Cookie Crumble by the way? Let us now consider two scenarios in which Len will not be able to answer his door, hopefully, or we might not all make it back this time. Once Len wakes up let us slip some ether into his morning glass of milk. Len now drinks his milk and then promptly falls off his chair as we have now rendered him unconscious, leaving Bason floating around looking puzzled.

We have now seduced Len into an unnatural unconsciousness… let's go knock on his door again! This time he does not answer, thankfully. The reason for this is not because he is being rude but because we put his mind into a state in which it does not know what has happened. By forcing Len unconscious his mind was not prepared for this change of state and thus can not focus on where it now is hence why he can't here us knocking.

Once Len is awake again he is going to be rather annoyed and will probably blame Bason for him falling of his chair. There is now one final situation I would like to place Len in. At this point I would like to stress the importance of us not staying long, as once Len comes to himself this time it would be best if we were on the other side of both his door…and the telepathic plane. This time what we are going to do is we are going to do something to Len that will mess up his senses. In short we are going to taser him, any volunteers? Ok Cookie Crumble, where were you by the way?...Anyway here you go, now when I give the signal juts point and fire. The reason I am choosing a taser is that we should all now be familiar with this device and its effect on the human body, ok Cookie Crumble you can shoot him now.

So now that Cookie Crumble has tasered Len for us, the electricity that is now passing through his body is messing up all of his senses and his mind can not focus on any of them, however he is still conscious. While Len is in this state if we run up to his door and knock we will most defiantly not get an answer even though he is still awake.

Now let's review what we have learned. A person can answer their door whether they are awake or asleep unless something has been done to them that will confuse their mind. However in all of the above situations one thing remained constant in that we could still find Len's room. It is this point that is crucial to what is about to happen when we return to Yoh. Before we do however let us all give Cookie Crumble a big round of applause for being brave enough to taser Len for us, now let's get out of here before Len comes to himself and we find ourselves rapid tempo assaulted into the afterlife.

We now return to Yoh who is currently both shocked and very, very worried.

How could she be gone? Yoh wondered as his mind franticly searched the telepathic plane for any trace of Anna's room. Inside he knew what the answer was. As far as he aware the only reason for someone's room not being visible on the telepathic plane was that they were dead.

As his mind returned to his own room Yoh began to cry inside. Not only had he been unable to locate Anna's room but a quick search for Morty's room had returned nothing either. The only thing keeping him from letting the flood gates open was the question of why. Why would they have gone to all the trouble of kidnapping his friends if all they were intending to do was to kill them a few hours later? Would it not have been a lot simpler and quicker just to have driven by and shoot them on their way past? As Amidamaru had said it most defiantly seamed to have been pre meditated so why bother?

Before Yoh could reach any sort of conclusion there was a sudden knock at his door. As he got up to answer it he already knew who it would be. Sure enough as he opened the door he was greeted by the rather somber looking figure of his grandpa.

"Yoh my boy I am afraid I have some bad news for you" the old man said as he invited himself in.

"I know grandpa" Yoh responded in a dejected voice. "I haven't been able to find either Anna or Morty so I know that means they must be dead" the boy finished, almost bursting into tears as he did.

Yohmei looked at his grandson for a moment before responding. "If that is the conclusion you have come to then it appears that I must rephrase myself I bring you good news and bad news." Yohmei said. "The bad news is that I clearly have taught you nothing that has sunk in this empty brain of yours. Look at these walls not ever a single decorative statue of your master…anyway…" He continued trying to sound more optimistic. Seeing the look of puzzlement on his grandson's face Yohmei continued.

"The good news, which is related to the bad, is that neither Anna nor Morty is dead. This I can tell you as fact. However what I can not tell you is where they are" the old man finished as he watched the expression on his grandsons face change from one of sorrow to one of question. He glanced around at the empty room again looking disappointed.

After a moment silence Yoh finally answered. "How can you know that they are alive if you can't find them?" the boy asked quizzically.

"When I spoke to your grandmother she informed me that she had sensed neither Anna nor Morty leave this plane of existence, of that she is sure. However, after multiple attempts with her spirit board, Tamara was unable to locate either of them." The old man sighed before continuing "This might be due to the poor girl's ineptitude but I gather from your initial reaction that you were unable to locate either of them on the telepathic plane yourself. Am I correct?" Yohmei asked, his pipe and a seating cushion manifesting itself again as he did so. He sank to his knees and got comfortable.

"Yes you are correct grandpa" Yoh replied. "I couldn't find either of them and as far as I was aware that meant that you were dead. If what you are telling me is true, that they are both still alive and that Tamera was unable to locate them, then where are they? What does it mean?"

Yohmei sighed once more as he puffed his pipe. "Again your stubborn mind deals with absolutes. If the room is not there then the person is dead…what nonsense you get that from your pig headed father. I must admit it is unusual and there normally is one simple solution for 99.9999% of occurrences such as these…"

"What is it?" Yoh asked a slight glimmer of hope in his eyes.

Yohmei seemed embarrassed and puffed extra hard on his pipe until a thick cloud of smoke engulfed his head. He waved it away coughing. "That the person in question is dead…" he admitted.

The mental representation of Yoh fell over. He stared at the old man. "But you said Grandma said they weren't dead…"

"I. Did." Yohmei agreed as he spluttered now wafting the smoke away with a small paper fan he had conjured.

"Then where are they!" Yoh demanded exasperated.

"That I'm afraid I do not know." He paused for a moment, seeing the look of disappointment on Yohs face. "I am sorry my grandson but I am afraid that there are something's in this universe that even I do not comprehend. I can only hope that your guardian ghost and his friends can find them or that Anna herself is able to find a way of contacting you."

"Thanks anyway grandpa." Yoh said; sounding a bit dejected again. "At least I know that they are still alive and to keep looking." On hearing the tone of his grandsons voice Yohmei decided that a bit of comfort was required before he departed.

"Do not let yourself be caught up in despair Yoh. You have great inner strength and a good heart. You will find both Anna and Morty of that I am sure. Although it may not be easy you will find a way to prevail. Now I am afraid I must be going. Your grandmother will not take kindly to me being late for dinner a second time this week…even if I am sitting at the dinner table already." He chuckled at his last remark.

"Goodbye grandpa and thank you for your time. Give my love to everyone ok." Yoh replied, sounding slightly more like his normal self.

"Don't worry I will. Goodbye my grandson. Until next we speak." With that Yohmei disappeared in the same way he had done previously, leaving Yoh once again alone in his room.

His resolve strengthened Yoh decided that it was time for himself to depart the telepathic plane and return to the real world. As he did so he wished that his grandpa could have told him more and hoped that either the ghosts or Len could give him some useful information as he was quickly running out of ideas.

##

Time. Time is relative, although most physicists would disagree. Wait a minuet is anyone else getting a strange sense of Déjà (not of the Avalon variety mind*) vu here. Oh yes now I remember I've already discussed the reasons as to why time is relative. With that in mind I'll skip the lecture as to why time is relative for the simple reason that I've have already given it and that I can't be bothered fetching person X and person Y, and then finding another set of toilets that require cleaning.

Moving on let us all just remember that time is in fact relative and so it should come as no surprise to anyone when I tell you that when Yoh returned to the world of the living he discovered that it was now midnight, when to him it had felt like only a couple of hours, time is relative after all.

When Yoh came round from his meditative state it was dark outside. This was of no surprise to him as he was perfectly aware that time passed differently when one was on the telepathic plane. Glancing at the clock on the wall he realised that it was in fact midnight and that he had been gone for almost ten hours, a new personal record. The ghosts should be back form their search by now he thought as he stood up. In doing so he disturbed his stomach, which made a loud rumble in protest of his treatment of it today. Upon hearing it Yoh suddenly realised that he hadn't had something to eat since the previous day, over twenty four hours ago.

In order to placate both his stomach and his legs, which were feeling a bit numb having been crossed for hours, the brown haired shaman wandered through to the kitchen. Before he could open the fridge to search for something to eat however the pair of guardian ghosts, who had only just concluded their search, burst through the wall. I say burst through the wall when what actually happened was that they floated through the wall at a speed which, had they still been human, would have sent the wall into next week.

"Lord Yoh!" Amidamaru said as he skidded to a halt (in actuality he just stopped dead, as ghosts can do that, but it doesn't sound as good). "We have had the entire city searched and can find no trace of Lady Anna or Lord Morty." The samurai continued, and then added "I am sorry Lord Yoh. We have failed you." Both he and Mosuke bowed their respective heads as Amidamaru reported their failure. Yoh looked at both of them having half expected this outcome.

"It's ok. I half expected that you wouldn't be able to find them after I spoke with grandpa. It's neither of your faults…" the Shaman said, still sounding slightly disappointed. Amidamaru sensed where his shaman was headed with his last comment and jumped in ahead of him.

"It is not your fault either Yoh" he said in a caring voice.

"Amidamaru is right Yoh. It was not your fault. However I think we would both like to know what you found out from your grandfather and why you expected our news." Mosuke added.

Yoh sighed as he looked first at his own guardian ghost then at Mortys.

"Thank you. Both of you." He said as he regained his focus. Then, after a moment of silence, he began to tell the two ghosts everything that had happened while they were away.

"Interesting" Amidamaru said eventually, once the brown haired boy had finished his tale. "It is both interesting and worrying that none of us have been able to locate or even get in contact with either Anna or Morty."

"But what does it mean? Where can they possibly be that can hide them from all of us." Mosuke added, sounding concerned.

"It means that we're running out of options with regards to finding them" Yoh replied in answer to the blacksmiths questions.

At that moment, with almost impeccable timing, Yohs phone rang from the living room. The caller, without even knowing it, had interrupted the conversation at exactly the point they would have had they actually been standing in the kitchen at that moment in time.

*Déjà of Avalon is an OC created by Kovou for her story The Lust For Power. When I was writing that line I couldn't resist putting in a reference to her as the character is pretty cool and so is the story.


	6. Chapter 6

**Authors Note:** Ok so it's been almost a week since I last updated, my apologies folks. I have been busy with revision and report writing for my exams so have had less time to write than I would have liked. My thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far, I hope you are enjoying the story. As always I would love to hear from you all and hear what you think of the story and any suggestions you have as to how I can improve it. If you have any questions please feel free to ask them as I will reply to them as soon as I can. Again my thanks to Kovou for her editing duties, perhaps I should start paying her *looks in wallet* on second thoughts maybe that's not such a good idea. Oh well on with the story.

I **don't**own Shaman King.

**Chapter 6: Polit****eness, Criminals and Revelations**.

Are you ok is one of the most widely used rhetorical questions in history and it is also one of the most annoying. Generally speaking the question, are you ok, is asked by someone who can clearly see that you are not ok. So why is it then that this question is asked of someone by someone else who can clearly see that that someone is not ok?

A logical answer would be that it is more to show that the person doing the asking is concerned about the person who is not ok, rather than a question about whether or not the person who is not ok, is or is-not ok. The problem with this argument is that if you have ever been on the receiving end of this question your reaction is more often than not one of annoyance with thoughts that amount to, do I bloody look ok to you.

So why is it that we humans insist on asking this question in these situations when we know full well that the person who we are asking is both not ok and most likely to become annoyed at us for asking. The answer to this I am afraid still eludes me. My best guess is that it is one of these things that in polite society humans just do because it is the done thing, regardless of how pointless and generally counterproductive it is.

At this point you may be asking why I am bothering to discuss such an annoying part of polite society. The reason for this, as many of you may already have guessed, is that this question is about to be asked of someone. Those of you, who have been paying close enough attention, may also have worked out who is going to be asking this question and who they will be asking it of, and the real sleuths among you will most likely have figured out what the reply to this question is going to be, anyone to whom this applies feel free to allow your mind to wander.

"Anna, are you ok?"

That was the first thing that Anna Kyoyama could make out as she finally came to. The taser which had been used on her should not have caused her to pass out. However due to the previous use of the device coupled with being forced to induce some sort of drug her body had been in a severely weakened state thus she had lost consciousness.

"Hey are you ok?"

When she heard the voice for a second time she felt a strong desire to get up off the floor and go slap its owner. This was closely followed by a thought along the line of, did she bloody well look ok. Owing to her current state she had absolutely no idea of what she actually did look like at this present moment, for there was no mirror in front of her and even if there was she probably wouldn't have been able to make out much of her appearance as there was not much light in the room, but she could have a fair guess.

As a new found sense of the room came to her Anna decided that she should probably answer the voice lest it continue its social annoyance.

"I'm fine Morty" she groaned from her position on the floor, hoping that this would be enough to stop the boy from going further down his current line of inquiry. Unfortunately, more so for Morty, he did not take the hint and continued anyway.

"You don't look fine" Morty offered in a tentative way, alas even this was to much as he was soon to realise.

Upon hearing the boy's foolish attempt to continue the conversation Anna finally gave in to her desires and let out her rage.

"You're the whiz kid Shorty you do the math. So far today not only have I been left on a street corner for an hour by both you and Yoh, in the baking heat I might add. I've then been tasered while attempting to save your sorry hide. After that I've been roughly thrown into a van by a bunch of smelly men who've then drugged me. Having then woken up I have then been treated very un-lady like and been tasered again. Then to top it off I've got you here asking me whether or not I'm ok." She managed to say all of this without once raising her voice, yet it somehow made her sound even more terrifying.

As Morty recoiled away from her she was able to sit up with her back against the bars, which provided some much needed support. Ignoring the movements of the boy she looked down at herself and noticed two things. The first was that her spirit beads were gone; the kidnapers must have taken them from her. The second, she decided to share with her now frightened companion.

"And to make things even better those men have ruined my dress." As she said this she looked across the room towards her friend, who was almost cowering in the corner. After a moments silence she finally spoke again.

"I'm sorry Morty" she began, meaning every word. "I didn't mean to lose it at you like that." As she finished Morty relaxed slightly and moved back over to sit beside her.

"I don't suppose they said anything helpful after they tasered me again did they?" Anna asked, as Morty tried to make him self slightly more comfortable or as comfortable as one can get on a cold stone floor with iron bars against your back.

"No" Morty replied wishing he could say something more helpful. "All they said was that if we didn't cooperate then they would make things a lot more uncomfortable for us" he paused for a moment "and to make sure you understood that when you woke up" he finished, knowing that what he had just said was quite obvious. Seeing that no reply was forthcoming and that Annas face now sported a look that said she knew something he didn't Morty continued.

"So where are we" he began. "Who were those men and what do they want with us?" He paused, hoping that she would be her usual self and have all the answers. When none came he began to get worried.

"Anna?" he said quizzically, desperate for the blond to say something. Eventually, after what seamed like an age, she did.

"Have you tried calling Mosuke?" was all she said.

The impact of those words hit Morty like her trademark roundhouse and legendary left, both at the same time. Before even considering the fact he jumped to his feet to avoid either of the aforementioned blows, as he was sure that one of them would be forthcoming when she realised that he had not even thought to try and contact Mosuke. Now that she said it, it was so obvious, why had he not thought of it. All he had needed to do was to call Mosuke to him and then send him to bring Yoh and Amidamaru to help them. Cursing himself for not thinking of such a simple solution to their predicament and that because Anna was not bearing down on him yet, Morty decided to waste no time.

"MOSUKE!" He yelled at the top of his voice.

Nothing happened. Perhaps they had been taken quite far away from Funbari Hill and it would take Mosuke a few moments to materialize. After a few minuets of waiting reality sunk in and Morty realised that Mosuke was not coming, then he felt as though he was weak. He was a pathetic excuse for a shaman he thought. Hell he had some nerve even referring to himself as one if he couldn't even summon his guardian ghost to him.

Seeing the look of self loathing on the boys face Anna decided that it was time she intervened before he got caught up in his own misery and apparent failure.

"Don't beat yourself up for not being able to summon him and don't worry…" she said in an almost kind voice "I'm not going to beat you up either for not thinking about it as a potential solution to our problem." Seeing a look of confusion, whether it was from hearing that it was not his fault or that she was not going to beat him up she did not know, Anna continued.

"Like I said it is not your fault that you can not summon Mosuke. I do not know where we are or who those men were or indeed what they want from us but there is one thing I do know for certain" she paused for a moment "we are in a spiritual dead zone." As she finished the look on Mortys face turned instantly from one of self loathing to one of utter confusion.

"A spiritual what?" he asked, still not believing that it was not due to his ineptness that Mosuke had not come.

"A spiritual dead zone." Still seeing a look of confusion Anna continued. "It's a place where the spirit world effectively does not exist. Ghosts can not exist here and Shaman and other spiritualists can not use there powers. You might not realise it, because you haven't been a shaman for very long, but concentrate and you will notice that your sixth sense is, for all intensive purposes, gone." As she finished she could see that Morty had that look on his face that he got when he was trying to piece something together.

Waiting for him to come up with his answer Anna took this opportunity to view her surroundings. What she saw was three dirty brick walls that were dimly lit from a light source that was on the opposite side of the bars, that was it. There was absolutely noting else in the cell, just themselves. Then Morty spoke.

"If you're saying that this place is a spiritual dead zone then does that mean..." he paused before yelling. "ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT THOSE GUYS ARE SHAMAN?"

Upon hearing her friend's sudden outburst, Anna felt it was best for her to try and diffuse the situation before Morty caused himself to take a heart attack or pass out, as he was prone to do in these circumstances, besides she didn't have Faust around to resuscitate him like she normally did. As she thought this her gaze lowered to her stinging chest where the taser had hit her, twice, she could probably use Faust's help right now too come to think of it.

"No I do not think so." She continued. "The way they acted, the way they in which they captured us tells me that they are most defiantly human." She said, metaphorically trying to scrape Morty off of the ceiling as she did.

"Then why have they brought us here if they're not shaman?" The boy finally asked, calming himself a little.

"A fluke" Anna responded. "Like I said they are human and by the looks of them a bunch of cloth heads that have no idea that things such as ghosts even exist, let alone the fact that this is a spiritual dead zone." Before she could continue Morty cut in.

"So then what do we do? How do we get out of here?" The small shaman said, looking towards the Itako for leadership.

"We don't" came the reply, after a moments hesitation. Anna did not sound like her normal self when she said this.

"What do you mean we don't" Morty almost screamed at the girl.

"We don't." she said again, sounding almost defeated. "There's nothing we can do Morty. Regardless of your ability and the fact that I don't have my beads, if we had been anywhere else, I could have still summoned my Shikigamis to get us out of here or summoned Amidamaru and had him fetch Yoh. But here…" she stopped to consider her words. "Here there is nothing either of us can do. I can't even contact Yoh through telepathy to try and guide him to us." She sighed as she said that last part. This feeling was not something she was used to experiencing. Normally she would be the one with all the answers, the one to help everybody else. Now she couldn't even help herself, and that hurt.

Seeing the look of utter dejection on Mortys face she realised that she had to find something to say that he could hold onto, something that they could both hold onto.

"Yoh will find us" she eventually said. How he would find them she had no idea, for none of their friends or family's wide variety of spiritual talents would be able to find them here, of that she was certain. She just had to believe in him, like she always did. More importantly she had to help Morty keep his faith in him too, or risk them both sinking into despair.

"Yoh will find us…Somehow." She said again, more firmly this time. "Like he always says Morty, it'll work out. So until he does we may just have to do what these men tell us. And if..." a wicked smile crept over her lips "And if they move us from here. I am going to make them wish they had never heard the most harmless of ghost stories." She sounded more like her normal self again as she said that last part.

"Yeah" Morty said, as he saw her look more like her old self again. "I bet Yoh and Amidamaru are on their way as we speak." He finished, sounding a lot more optimistic now.

"And when he gets here I'm going to make him do the electric chair for a week. For leaving me standing on a street corner while he was sleeping." The Itako replied, now sounding exactly like the Anna they all knew and loved, or rather feared.

"Now I need to have a rest" she said as she struggled to get to her feet. "Wake me as soon as you hear either of those men return ok." She finished, shakily making her way over to the far left corner of the cell as she did.

"I will do don't worry about that Anna." Morty said, realising that undergoing what she had had been too much, even for Anna.

As she lay down on the cold stone floor Anna hoped that she had come across as convincing as she had sounded. The reality of the situation was in stark contrast to what Morty had previously declared. Even if Yoh had managed to escape unscathed it would be very difficult, almost impossible, for him to find them without some sort of help, where he would get that help from she did not know. Giving this fact there was quite possibly more of a chance that the men would move them. If they did then she had to be ready. Without her medium it would take a great amount of strength to summon the Shikigamis to aid them. If she managed it then they should have no problem in escaping. For now though she had to concentrate on regenerating her Furyoku and that meant sleep.

Curling her self up in an attempt to preserve what little warmth she had, Anna shut her eyes and allowed her mind to settle into a willing state of unconsciousness. The day had truly been tough on her.

##

Criminals, where would we be without them. In this instance we would probably be back at Funbari hot springs, watching Yoh and Morty being forced to do the electric chair by a still mad Anna. That aside, on the whole criminals are a bad lot that serve no purpose but to cause trouble, and trouble is an unwanted annoyance, much in the same way as raspberry is a type of jam. In fact the only practical use for criminals, which I can think of, is that they can create a story purely by just being present.

Take for example two stories about three friends. In the first story the three friends meet up, go into town, have a laugh, get some ice cream then go home. Now from the characters point of view, in this case the three friends, this is all well and good. They have gone out, had a good day and have had nothing untoward happen to them. The problem with this story is that it is bloody boring as absolutely nothing interesting happens.

Let us now look at the second story. It starts out in exactly the same way as the first in that three friends plan to meet up. The difference between this story and the first is that this one includes a set of three criminals in it as well as the group of three friends. The rest of the second story now becomes entirely different from the first purely because there are criminals present in it. What happens then is that when the three friends meet up the group of criminals go and kidnap two off them. This is down to the fact that regardless of what you tell them to do criminals will inherently do something completely different. For example, in this instance I simply asked the criminals to cover for the waiting staff at the ice cream parlour as they were away on holiday, whereas what they have actually done is go and kidnap two of the three friends used in our example. In what reality the two tasks are the same I do not know, maybe that is a question best directed elsewhere, to Dr Faust perhaps.

So criminals won't do as they are told big deal, actually it is a big deal as I now have no one to run the ice cream parlour and two out of the three friends are missing, perhaps I should have asked Trey to run the parlour instead. This is however not the end of the matter with regards to criminals. Criminals are people, or in our case characters, too. Thus it is only natural that they be treated as such and be given the chance to be characters in their own right, rather than a simple plot device for creating a story. It is also worth noting at this point that criminals have their own class structure however the details of this structure are, at this moment in time at least, irrelevant, perhaps we shall discuss them at a later date.

For now at least let us simply focus on the idea that criminals are characters too and require scenes of their own, like this one for example, seriously where else did you think I was going with this?

The evening was slowly turning to night as the two men finished unloading the last crate from the back of the white van, the same one which had been used earlier in the day as a getaway vehicle. While Morty and Anna had been unconscious the driver and one of the men had taken the van away and had it loaded, ready for tomorrows deal. The building that they were currently occupying consisted only of this room, a garage where the van was parked and a three roomed basement, one of which was a toilet and the other the room that contained Anna and Morty's cell. The two were arguing again, a common occurrence amongst criminals, this time it was about whose fault it was that one of the crates had been dropped. The fact that it had landed on Chao's, (the one who hadn't been slapped by Anna) foot may give you an indication as to whose fault it actually was. Regardless the only thing that this argument managed to do was return them to their previous argument over whose fault it was that Zhang, (the one who had been slapped by Anna) had been hit by the aforementioned girl.

It was only at the point where Zhang actually threatened to let Anna out and have her way with Chao, that the latter decided that it was not worth it and decided to lead the former away from the subject of the fiery blond, onto his current favourite topic of annoyance, their boss. To say that Zhang was currently annoyed with their boss was as big an understatement as saying that Anna's trademark roundhouse was as soft as a cotton ball, and a small one at that. The truth of the matter was that Zhang, who was known as being one of the more placid natured members of the organisation, was currently so angry and pissed off at his bosses actions that he had almost walked out on the group two weeks prior.

It is at this point then, that we join their conversation/argument for it is important for us to understand exactly why Zhang is angry with his boss.

"…Well you're still all pissed off from your fight with the boss the other week." Chao said in return to his partners comment about letting Anna loose.

"I am not pissed off in the slightest and even if I was I would have every right to be after what the boss did." Zhang retorted, clearly not amused at being described as pissed off.

"You sure sound like it" Chao replied, seeing that his underhanded tactic was about to pay dividends.

"ALL RIGHT FINE!" Zhang shouted back at his comrade, finally losing his cool. "I am still pissed off but can you blame me. The boss fucking stole my woman."

"Oh so what, big deal, the boss has bedded peoples bitches before and no ones kicked up this much fuss." Chao responded, as though a guy sleeping with another mans women was an everyday occurrence amongst their group. The fact that this was indeed correct however did not seem to help sooth Zhang's appraisal of the situation.

"I'll give you big deal. It wasn't as though she was just some bitch that he had a sudden fancy for." Zhang spat at his cohort, not intending to let the subject go. "It was my partner."

"Come off it. No one has a partner in our line of work. We take what whores are available and make do. That's the way it is." Chao replied, hoping that his comrade would see sense this time, not likely giving the way he banged on about it at almost every opportunity.

"I don't give a shit about what the rest of you do. The fact remains that we were happy and then the boss came along and decided he liked the look of her." Zhang said, still sounding put out.

"Well she obviously wasn't happy if she fell for the bosses pick up lines, he has as much charm as a brick." Chao replied, realizing he was now going to have to try a different approach to get his partner to lighten up on the matter.

"That's not fair" Zhang replied, clearly having no intention of lightening up over the matter. "You know fine well what happens once the boss takes a liking to you. Either you become his bitch or you end up being found dead in a gutter a few weeks later." He finished, emphasising that last point.

"Yeah well you know how it is. There's only so many times you can say no to the boss before he gets mad." Chao responded, chuckling after he had finished. Zhang glanced at his watch, not in the least bit amused by his comrades take on their bosses actions.

"That's in no way, shape or form funny Chao. Anyway we need to go and get something for Shorty and…" he paused for a moment "and Miss Anna to eat." Both men laughed loudly at this comment as they locked the door to the store room behind them.

As they exited the building and brought the shutter the two men began to discus something related to sport, all bitterness over their multiple arguments of the day apparently forgotten, for now at least.

##

It was night time when the two men returned to where their captives were being held. After some minor persuasion on Chao's part, involving phrases such as "they're a pair of kids locked in a cell with brick walls and iron bars" and "after her outburst they don't deserve food", Zhang had agreed to stop off at a bar on their way to the shop.

It had been a good idea too Zhang thought as the pair unlocked the garage shutter. Even though it had been a quick one, it had been enough to help him relax and forget, temporarily, about his on going feud with their boss. Besides they also had a crate of beer with them that they had picked up from the store next door to the bar, where they also bought a loaf of bread and a bottle of water for the prisoners.

After closing the shutter behind them the two men made there way down the stairs to the basement part of the building. Here they entered a short corridor with three doors leading off of it, all of them on the same wall to the left of the stairwell. The door on the far left hand side belonged to a small, and fairly disgusting, toilet. The middle door led into the room which the two men were currently using as a place to eat, sleep and relax in. Beyond the final door was the largest room of the basement which, at the present moment in time, was occupied by a caged Anna and Morty.

Opening this door the two men entered the room to find both of their captives awake, their backs against the wall opposite the bars. Preparing for another outburst Chao drew his taser as they approached the bars, neither of the two behind them moved from where they were sitting. The outburst never came.

"Here" Zhang said as he tossed the bottle of water through the bars and onto the floor between the two. Ripping the packaging off of the loaf he proceeded to tear the bread into chunks before sending it to join the bottle of water on the floor.

"Learned our lesson have we Miss Anna" Chao said in a mocking voice to the girl's silence. Anna did not respond rather she continued to stare straight ahead as though she was unaware of the men's presence.

"Either way the pair of you had better enjoy that as it's all your getting" Zhang said, slightly disappointed that neither of them had said anything. "Now we're off to have a drink. If we hear any noise from you two we'll make you wish you had never learned to talk." He finished. Getting no response Zhang was satisfied that both of them understood the rules. Turning away form the bars the two men headed for the exit. As they passed the table Chao caught sight of the paper he had been reading in the van that morning. Laughing to himself as he picked it up, the man turned back towards the cell and walked towards it.

"Here Shorty" he said, laughing again. "Why don't you read Miss Anna a bedtime story." He finished, rolling up the paper and throwing it through the bars at Morty as he did.

As the paper flew towards him, Morty had to dive to his left to avoid being struck by it. Picking himself up off the floor Morty watched as the two men left the room, leaving them alone with their pitiful meal.

Ignoring the offending object Morty moved over to the spot where Zhang had thrown their dinner. Scooping both the lumps of bread and the singular plastic bottle of water up he brought them over to where Anna still sat in silence.

"Here Anna you have the first drink" the boy said as she unscrewed the lid from the bottle of water and held it out to her.

Anna just sat there and stared, giving no sign that she had even heard what Morty had said let alone the fact that he was holding something in front of her. This reaction didn't entirely surprise the young shaman as the Itako had been silent ever since she had woken up two hours previous. Still she was bound to be at least slightly thirsty the boy reasoned, given that neither of them had had anything to drink, or eat for that matter, since early that morning.

"Hey Anna you really should drink some of this and have something to eat" he ventured, hoping that he would be able to get through to her. After a few moments of more silence the Itako finally spoke.

"I don't want anything Morty. Please… just leave me alone." She said in a flat monotone. Morty sighed at her response. He knew that he wouldn't be able to force her to do anything she didn't want to, Anna was stubborn that way. With that in mind he decided that it would be pointless to pursue the matter.

"Ok, well I'll leave half of the water and food for you in case you feel like it later." Morty said in a defeated voice.

Sitting himself back down Morty took a drink form the bottle and realised just how thirsty he was, he wished that they had more than just the one bottle of water. Sighing again Morty picked up one of his pieces of bread; this was going to be a long night he thought as he bit into it.

After a couple of minuets Morty had consumed his share of the bread and half of the bottle of water. With nothing else to do and with Anna not likely to converse with him anytime soon the boy picked up the newspaper which had been rudely thrown at him, at least it would help to pass the time he thought as he unrolled it. Then his jaw hit the floor when he saw that mornings headline.

"Oyamada to be questioned by police regarding recent business activity" he read, his knees becoming week as he did so. As he read on it turned out that his fathers company was being investigated about illegal dealings with the Chinese underworld and now it sounded as though his father had not only known about these deals but had also been involved with them.

As he continued to read Morty learned that the people that Oyamada Electronics had been dealing with had not been fully paid for what they had delivered and were now very pissed off over both that and the fact that the whole thing and been blown wide open. Finishing the article everything now made sense to Morty. He had been kidnapped by a group of Chinese people who wanted revenge on his father for not paying them what they were due. Unfortunately for Anna she had been with him when they had decided to make their move and had been captured too.

His heart fell as he thought about Anna. Everything that had happened to her today had been because of him. She had had absolutely nothing to do with it and yet it had been her that had borne the brunt of these men's cruelty, purely because she was able to stand up for herself whereas he could not. He was weak and pathetic, most definitely not worthy of calling himself a shaman. Had he only had the courage to stand up for them himself then it would have been him that had been tasered rather and Anna, who had done nothing wrong. Come to think of it he had done nothing to deserve being in this situation him self but even this did little to lighten his mood as he slumped back against the wall.

As he sat there in silence his mind debated over whether or not he should try and tell Anna what he had discovered. On one hand she had told him that she wished to be left alone but on the other this was rather important. Eventually however he decided against it. He could tell her about it when she wished to talk to him next, it was not as if the knowledge of why they were here could help them to escape.

His mind made up there was now nothing else that he could do, the front page of the news paper had put him off reading any more of it. Lying down Morty decided that all he could do now was to try and get some sleep and hope that the morning would bring a change in fortune, along with Yoh and a way out of their situation. He mumbled a quick goodnight to Anna, who said nothing in return, as he closed his eyes and willed sleep to come.


	7. Chapter 7

**Authors note: **Ok. First of all my apologies for not updating this for over a week, real life kinda ate me. Still in the middle of exam revision so please bare with me folks. Everything going to plan I should hopefully be able to update a chapter next week and the following week. That should take me up to the end of my exams after which I should have a lot more time on my hands to write and update more than once a week.

Ok so here we are lucky number seven. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far I hope you continue to enjoy. As always any and all feedback is welcome and thanks again to Kovou for her editing duties, even if I did confuse her at one point, sorry about that.

I **don't **own Shaman King.

**Chapter 7:**** Sounds, Conversations and Love.**

Ring tones. We all have them and they are all different. So far in this tale we have heard two very different ones. For those of you who are interested I will tell you that one was a track called three little birds, while the other was part of a on old space rock track called Master of the Universe, I'll leave it to you to decide which tone belonged to which shaman.

Either way as I have already stated we all have ringtones and they are all different. It has got the stage that we can each personalise our ringtone to suit our individual taste. We can even go as far as to have an individual tone for each person in our contacts list if we so desire. To a certain extent this is a good thing, for those of you who can remember, back in the days when every phone had the same set of standard tones it could get rather difficult to decipher whether or not it was your phone or the person standing next to you whose phone was ringing as both you, him and everyone else in the room had the exact same ringtone.

The point I am trying to make however has absolutely nothing to do with ring tones in the slightest. I merely mentioned them as I thought it would be worth wasting a few paragraphs, looks like I was wrong on that one, oh well moving on.

Since hearing his ringtone over ten hours ago Len Tao had suddenly found himself having to do the one thing he hated above all others, no not shopping with Jun, rather he had had to spend time with, and actually talk to, his father. That particular conversation had ended almost eight hours ago and having eventually got everything he could from the man; Len had been in his room trying to get back in touch with his friend in Japan. Or at least that had been part of what he had been doing, there was only so many times you could phone someone before the sound of their answer service got rather old and you decided to give up and try again in half an hour, and half an hour after that, and so on until eventually they decided to answer their phone. While this had been a bit of an annoyance to Len it was not unexpected as his friend had most likely been searching for Anna himself on the telepathic plane, which strangely seemed littered with tourists in more recent days, Len thought this over and shook his head a slight shudder going down his spine. The world really was going to the dogs, he wasn't even sure it was possible to tour a strictly sixth sense sort of area but… The wait had also proved to be rather useful as it had provided him with time to do some research of his own.

As he paced his room, his phone once again pressed to his ear, Len wondered whether Yoh had found out something about where his friends were and took off to find them. From what his father had said to him about the people who had kidnapped Anna and Morty Len could only pray that he had not done anything rash. Eventually though Len let out the breath he had been holding as the familiar voice of his friend filled his ear, for some reason it was panting.

"Len are you there" Yoh said hurriedly, still panting like a dog.

The Tao shaman considered his response for a moment then said

"Yes and by the sounds of you you've just run a marathon what's happening?" Len asked slightly concerned that his friend had indeed done something rash.

"Nothing" the Japanese shaman replied. "I was in the kitchen when I heard my phone ring from the living room. I ran through to get it and tripped and fell on top of it, and the table. I think the table might have to be replaced though, Annas not going to like that one bit." As he finished and heard the other shaman let out a breath and relax.

"Well if that's all you have to worry about then don't. I have something much more important that you should be worrying about instead" before Len could continue Yoh cut in

"Have you found them Len" he said quickly, hoping that his friend had managed to do what no one else had. On hearing the anticipation in Yohs voice Len decided to chose his next words carefully.

"Not exactly" he said, and not giving his friend a chance to comment continued. "I do however know who it is that we are dealing with. Unfortunately my father was only able to supply me with the address of one of their business fronts and I have not been able to make any advances on my own. I can not promise that we will find Anna and Morty there but never the less it is better than nothing and I am sure that we might be able to find out the location of their headquarters at the very least." As he finished Len couldn't help sounding slightly smug, even though they still had a lot of work to do. It had taken a lot of persuasion to get his father to disclose this information to him.

"Len this is great news" Yoh almost shouted down the phone, unable to contain himself. "I was getting really worried as no one else has been able to find or contact them. Where is it? Give me an address and I'll make my way over there right now" He continued before the Tao shaman cut in.

"Listen Yoh" Len said coolly "You will not be able to just walk into this place and ask them nicely to return Anna and Morty. These people are ruthless and very, very dangerous" he continued.

Yoh listened intently as Len began to recount the details of the conversation he had had with his father En.

##

_Some hours earlier._

Lens hand froze in midair as he went to knock on the door to his father's chamber. As if knowing that it was about to be disturbed the door opened of its own accord allowing a strip of light as wide and tall as the door itself to illuminate the dim corridor.

"Ah Len" a booming voice said from within the bowels of the chamber "come in. And too what do I owe the pleasure of your company?" the voice asked as Len entered the room, the door closing itself behind him.

"You get absolutely no pleasure from my company father nor I yours, so drop the charade as I have no time for it today." The boy retorted to his fathers greeting.

"You never were one for simple manners or pleasantries were you my son." He laughed at his own comment then continued "Shall I rephrase my question then?"

"No. I would rather skip the part where we decipher why I am here at get straight to point" he paused for a moment then said. "Two of my friends have been kidnapped and unfortunately you may be the only person who can shed any light on who they are and where they reside." Len bit his lip as he finished, he really hated having to ask his father for help.

"I would assume that you would know your friends better than I and that you do not require me to tell you who they are and where they come from" he laughed again at his own joke, Len however did not find his fathers humor amusing in the slightest.

"You know perfectly well that I was referring to the identity of the kidnappers and their location, not to which of my friends it is that has been kidnapped" Len spat. He knew that his father was toying with him, now that he knew that Len was here because the boy wanted his help.

"Ha ha ha ha" En chuckled as he heard his sons response. "You may have become a lot stronger over the past few years my son but your mind and your tongue are still not as sharp as they ought to be." He laughed again as he lectured his son, one of his favorite past times.

"I do not want nor did I ask for your appraisal of my logic or communication skills father" Len retorted, trying to keep his temper in check. "Now you are going to give me all the information that I require one way or another. I would prefer that you provide it willingly however I will have no issue with defeating you again if it comes down to it." The Tao shaman replied, fighting the urge to draw his Kwando. His father considered him for a brief moment before replying.

"Hmm it appears that my appraisal of you was not far off the mark. However you have mellowed also it seams. I remember a day when you would have already drawn that Kwando of yours." He chuckled to himself yet again. "As it stands though I have a vast amount of information and knowledge that I could choose to pass on to you if I so desired. However that would take a considerable amount of time so I shall assume that there is a specific part of my knowledge that you are after." He paused, leaving the metaphorical door to the conversation ajar for his son to walk through.

"There is" Len began. "It was my friends Anna and Morty who were kidnapped, in Funbari Hill. The only clue that we have is that one of the three men was Chinese with an Ouroboros tattoo on his neck and that they used a white van." Len finished, hoping that his father would be able to make something of this and that he had not wasted his time in talking to the man.

"Hmmm." En replied, giving no hint of whether or not he could help. There was deathly silence as En continued to think it over.

"It is certainly not a lot to go on" En said eventually. "Your friend may just have gotten very lucky that one of there masks fell off. Otherwise I doubt even I would have be able to…" he searched for the right word, couldn't find one to exactly describe what he was doing so instead settled for "…assist." Seeing that no reply was going to be forthcoming En continued.

"The Ouroboros symbol is used by many criminal organizations across the globe. However there is only one of which I am aware that operates in Japan and is run by Chinese men. I would stake a small fortune on the others that were there being Chinese as well. "He raised a hand and whispered conspiringly. "I'd probably get good odds on it too!" En waited for a response he new would come this time.

"How can you be so sure that they were all Chinese" the boy asked, for once being genuinely interested in what his father was telling him.

"There are only two groups that use that symbol in Japan. The first of which is run by Chinese men while the other is run by Japanese purists who would not allow anyone who could not prove their ancestry was of pure Japanese decent to join their ranks. Also if you had bothered to do anything beyond your video games this past few days you would have seen some rather interesting news headlines." En almost chuckled to himself again as he remembered the aforementioned headlines.

"What sort of headlines are you talking about?" the boy asked quizzically, unable to hid the interest from his voice. En obviously caught wind of this as he laughed again.

"Your little friend, Morty was it?" the Chinese man began "His fathers company has been making headlines this week for all the wrong reasons. Apparently Mr. Oyamada himself was involved in some, shall we say, inappropriate dealings with some rather colourful Chinese business men. Either way as the news tells it someone from within the company leaked details of these dealings to the police. The police have now launched a full scale investigation into the matter which has resulted in these Chinese men not being paid what they were due." As his father finished his recounting of the weeks headlines Len took this as a cue to speak.

"So your telling me that these, so called 'colourful' Chinese men have had this group kidnap Morty so they can basically hold him to ransom until they get there money." The Tao shaman said, it was a statement however En answered it as though it was a question.

"That would be my assessment of the situation" he said. "The group that you seek is called The Havens. They deal mostly in the trafficking of women however they have branched out in recent years into drug smuggling." He stopped there, knowing that it would irritate his son, another of his favorite past times.

"And where can one find them" Len replied, annoyed that his father had intentionally left him hanging.

"They have many safe houses and brothels in Japan, especially in Tokyo. Alas I cannot tell you where your friends have been taken or where to find their headquarters. I can however give you the location of one of their, shall we call it business fronts? It should give your friend somewhere to start looking at least." As he finished he clicked his fingers, the sound echoing throughout the room. At that moment a Jiang Shi entered the room, walked up to Len and handed him a slip of paper.

"That will tell you where to find them." En said, seeing the look of confusion on his sons face. "Now leave and do with it what you will." He finished, considering their conversation to be over. Wanting nothing more than to be out of his father's presence Len turned to leave. As he reached the door a thought suddenly came to him. Turning back to face his father he said

"You seem to know much about this group's…business fronts. Have you had dealings with them?" En laughed for a second then became serious.

"No I have not." I do not deal with those who are involved in the trafficking of people. Humans may be pathetic, loathsome creatures but it is a despicable act that even I will not tolerate." En said, his voice sounding slightly louder than normal.

"Well…" Len began, having to choose his words carefully "…thank you for your…" he struggled to find the correct term and finally settled for "…assistance father." He had to stop himself adding the words, for once, onto the end of that sentence as he left the room.

##

It was almost one in the morning once Len had finished recounting the conversation he had had with his father. Yoh had listened intently as he had spoke, hardly ever interjecting. Once the Tao shaman had finished there was a silence before the Japanese boy finally broke it.

"So your dad recons that it's because of some deal Mortys dad was involved in that they were kidnapped." Yoh said, sounding slightly better now he was on the verge of having a solid lead. "But why take Anna? She has nothing to do with it."

"I can only guess that when they went to kidnap Morty they weren't expecting anyone else to be there and had to change their plan." Len replied, his throat slightly dry from having had to recount an entire conversation without a rest.

"But then why didn't they take me as well then?" Yoh continued, not convinced by his friend's assessment of the situation. There was another moment of silence as Yoh heard the sound of his friend downing a glass of something on the other end of the phone.

"What I would imagine has happened is that having already had to decide to kidnap both of them, these men have been in the process of carrying out the deed before they have noticed you running towards them. By the time you got there they had already loaded them into their van. You then attacked one of them and forced him to make a decision. That decision being whether it would be easier to capture you as well or to merely beat you back long enough for them to escape. As it could have taken him a while to fully beat you into submission my guess would be that he has decided that there was more chance of them being seen and from that caught, by attempting to take you as well than if they just bailed having already got what they came for." Len finished, wishing that he had left some of his milk, perhaps he should head down stairs for another one. As he contemplated the possibility of more milk, Yoh spoke.

"I suppose that makes sense" the boy said, part of his mind too was on refrigerated products. "So can you give me the address? I want to go over there, find Anna and Morty and ensure these people never go near them again." As he finished all thoughts of milk evaporated from the Tao shamans mind.

"Have you heard one iota of what I have just spent the past half hour saying?" the Chinese shaman asked, sounding rather annoyed. "You cannot just go up to these people and say 'Oi you, criminals. Return Anna and Morty at once, thank you very much'. Like I said these people are ruthless."

"Then what do you suggest I do" Yoh replied, becoming frustrated with the pointy haired boy. On the other end of the phone Len heard the frustration in his friends voice and decided that he had better hurry up and get to his solution.

"I suggest that you Listen Yoh. I know this is going to be difficult for you but trust me when I say it is for the best" he paused, knowing that his normally placid natured friend may blow up at his next set of words. "You should wait until tomorrow" Len said, before almost getting his ear blown off.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I SHOULD WAIT UNTIL TOMORROW? ANNA AND MORTY ARE IN TROUBLE TONIGHT I CAN'T JUST LEAVE THEM UNTIL TOMORROW!" Yoh shouted down the phone at Len, who was now holding his own phone at arms length while Bason blinked at the strange talking box currently yelling at Len in Yoh's voice.

"Yoh!" the Tao shaman shouted in the direction of the phone. "Think about it. What would you do if you went there tonight? Go marching in there with Amidamaru and that double medium of yours and slice anyone who got in your way into little pieces. Where would that get you?" He stopped there to allow Yoh a chance to answer and to check if it was safe to return the phone to his ear.

Silence, indicating safety but also a lack of response, when it became obvious that there wasn't going to be one Len continued "It'll get you a bunch of dead bodies whose ghosts, I get the feeling, won't want to talk to you anymore than when they were alive. Now if you just calm down a moment I will explain to you a plan which I have concocted that should hopefully get you in, get you the information that you require, and get you out again without anyone knowing that you were ever there."

He paused briefly "Now tell me that that does not sound better than a pile of dead bodies and a cold jail cell." As he finished Len thought he could almost hear Yohs brain working this suggestion over, it was a painfully slow rusted creaking sound like a clock winding down. Eventually after much deliberation Yoh finally responded.

"I'm sorry Len I didn't mean to shout at you like that." He said, sounding apologetic. "Your idea does sound a lot better than a pile of dead bodies and a cold jail cell" Yoh conceded. "What is your plan and why can't I go ahead with it tonight?" he added, hopping he could change the Tao shamans mind about waiting until tomorrow.

"I'm sorry Yoh but my plan requires something that will not arrive in Funbari Hill until tomorrow evening. It is essential that you have it if you are going to attempt to infiltrate this place undetected." He paused again, as though considering something.

"Until it arrives there is not much point in me discussing the details. Tomorrow make your way to my uncle's sushi restaurant for 8:00pm and tell the waiter that I sent you. You will then be escorted to upstairs part of the building where I shall explain everything. Trust me Yoh this will work I promise." As he finished Len Tao hoped that this would be enough to keep his friend placated until tomorrow night. Still it was not as though Yoh had a choice in the matter, he had been careful not to give the boy the address he had obtained from his father. As he waited for the response to his proposal Len allowed his mind to wander back to thoughts about cold milk. Eventually though his mind was returned to the here and now when Yoh finally answered.

"I guess I don't get much choice in the matter do I" the brown haired shaman replied, almost jokingly. "Fine you win Len I'll do as you say and wait until tomorrow.

"Glad to hear it" the Tao shaman replied, finally able to breathe easy. "Get a good meal inside you and try and get some sleep. I'll speak to you tomorrow night."

"I'll try. I think my stomach would try to kill me if I refused it food" he replied, sounding more like his normal self than he had done at any point since the morning.

As he was about to say goodnight Len realised that there was one thing he had forgotten to mention.

"Oh and Yoh." He said, sounding as serious as ever. "Whatever you do, do not go to the police about this. I've done enough research this afternoon to know that this group most likely has people inside the police department on their pay role. The last thing we need is for them to get wind of the fact that we're looking for them. It is most likely that your presence has, how shall we put it, slipped the minds of the kidnapers when reporting back to their boss so it is best that we keep it that way. Do you understand?" Len finished, now slightly worried that the thought had crossed his friends mind.

"To be honest with you the thought hadn't even crossed my mind" Yoh replied, as though he had forgotten something obvious. "I guess that when you're so used to solving your own problems or getting help from the sort of people we know, you kinda forget about things like the police." He began to laugh as he heard Len say something on the other end of the phone.

"Well goodnight Yoh" Len said as he prepared to end the conversation.

"Night Len" Yoh said, returning the pleasantry. "Thanks for all your help I really appreciate it. I know it must have been difficult for you going and asking your dad for help with something that isn't even your problem. I really owe you for that one. You're a good friend." As he finished his stomach let out a rumble that was louder than its previous outburst.

"Don't go getting all mushy on me Asakura. You need to stay strong and focussed. Now go do something about that stomach of yours before it makes mine come out in sympathy." Both boys laughed at Lens last comment.

"Goodnight Len" Yoh said, as he finally subdued his laughter.

"Goodnight Yoh" Len replied as the he hung up the phone.

Their conversation now over Yoh pocketed his phone and went back into the kitchen, the two ghosts pressing him for the full details of the conversation as he went. As he entered the kitchen, the ghosts in toe, the brown haired shaman made his way to the refrigerator and pulled out a variety of different foodstuffs, it did not matter to him that most of them did not go with each other for he was too hungry to care. Fetching a single plate from the cupboard, while discussing the finer points of what Len had told him, Yoh dumped the contents of the multiple dishes he had fetched from the fridge onto it, he would clean up in the morning as he would have nothing better to do.

Making his way from the kitchen to the dinning room Yoh turned to his friends and said

"Hey do you guys mind if just eat alone then go to bed? It's just that I don't feel much like talking tonight."

"It is not a problem with us is it Mosuke" Amidamaru responded as he turned to the blacksmith.

"No not at all. We shall retire for the night and leave you be Lord Yoh" Mosuke replied.

"Goodnight Yoh." Amidamaru said to his partner. "Come Mosuke let us leave Lord Yoh in peace."

"Goodnight guys" Yoh responded as the two ghosts departed, leaving Yoh in the dinning room alone as he had requested.

Wolfing down his meal Yoh thought of nothing bar the weird taste of the mixture of different foods he was consuming. Once he had finished he didn't even bother to return his plate to the kitchen before he headed up stairs and into his bedroom. As he undressed and climbed into bed his mind returned to Anna, and how she might be feeling at this moment in time.

"Goodnight Anna" he whispered, as his head hit the pillow. "I love you" he managed to say before he felt the urge to cry. Even though he new she couldn't hear him just saying her name and proclaiming out loud that he loved her, made him feel slightly closer to her.

##

Across town, in some as of yet unknown location, Anna Kyoyama curled up on the cold stone floor struggled to keep warm. She had finally given in to her hunger and eaten the lumps of bread which Morty had left, washing them down with what remained of the bottle of warm water. That was an hour ago. Now she lay there on the cold stone floor, trying to keep her self warm, her mind constantly thinking about where Yoh was and whether or not he was ok. Rolling over onto her other side a chill ran up her spine as her mind conjured up an image of a rather bloody and badly beaten Yoh lying in the gutter beside the road where she and Morty had been kidnapped. As she tried to force the image out of her head a thought kept telling her that it was a possibility that this was how they had left him once they had fended him off. Tears almost manifested themselves as these thoughts flooded her mind. She didn't think she could bare it if this was indeed what had happened to her Yoh. As she fought to keep the tears from forming the blond Itako whispered something.

"I love you Yoh" she whispered to herself, even though she knew he couldn't even sense her let alone hear her. Curling up tighter she tried once again, in vain, to slip into the dark void of unconsciousness, wanting nothing more than to be in the warm and loving embrace of Yoh's arms.

Something that now felt like, and would possibly only ever be, a distant memory.

##

It was late. Actually it wasn't late at all it was in fact only a couple of hours after mid day; time zones are a weird thing after all. You see, back in Funbari Hill it was about 3 o'clock in the morning but here…here it was only about 2:00pm in the afternoon, the previous day! So by referring to it as being late I am of course working on Funbari time, sorry about that, clearly I forgot to change my watch.

Either way regardless of what time our watches, or phones ( Mr Johansen! that isn't your phone put it back in lens room!) for that matter, are telling us it is lets just accept that it is now only two o'clock in the afternoon. So technically speaking we are currently reliving the day over again, how cool is that! Anyway what we should be interested in is not what time it is but rather where the bloody hell are we and how did we suddenly got from Funbari Hill to wherever this place is.

The answer to both these questions is really quite simple really. We are currently in New York and as for how we got here… well lets just say that we are not actually there and are in fact in exactly the same place as we were five minuets ago. I know it's a bit of a let down to find out that we are not actually in the locations where the story is set and are in fact in front of our computers, unless of course you happen to live in one of the aforementioned locations, in which case consider yourself promoted to the head of the tour group. If not, well we can all use our imagination right?

Moving on it is probably apt that I explain why we are now imagining ourselves to be in New York and not Funbari. The reason for this sudden change of scenery is that someone of importance, at least as far as the story is concerned, is currently residing in New York. I know it would have been nice if they could have just been in Funbari as well but I am afraid that the individual in question is most uncooperative when it comes to doing something that they do not wish to do, that and I couldn't find a flight that would get them back in time for this chapter. Come to think of it, it is because of this stubbornness that the person who we are about to visit managed to get themselves into their current situation.

In an office on the top floor of a rather tall skyscraper a man sat behind a large oak desk with his back to the window. On a related matter why is it that people in offices on the top floor of skyscrapers always have their backs to the window? Is it because these sort of offices almost always have a set of oversized double doors that face the window, and that the owners of these offices always like to be facing the poor people who are unfortunate enough to have to walk through said doors? Or is it that the occupants of these offices like to pretend that the outside world does not exist? In this instance both are correct although the stack of newspapers which were spread across the occupant's desk were making it very difficult from them to do the later.

As he flicked through yet another paper the man behind the desk barely registered that his telephone was ringing. It was only when he had to turn the page that his concentration slipped enough for the phones sharp ringing to break through his single mindedness.

Throwing the paper onto the desk to join the others he grabbed the device in his left hand and shouted into it. "WHAT THE HELL IS IT THIS TIME!" to the unsuspecting person on the other end.

There was silence for a moment; clearly the person on the other end, stupidly, had not been prepared for this sort of response. Eventually though a voice did answer, though it was very tentative.

"Umm Sir" it said, sounding like they were already regretting the decision to even pick up their own phone.

"WHAT IS IT MAN?" the man behind the desk replied, still shouting at the top of his voice, even though the voice was not who he was expecting.

"I'm afraid I have some bad news for you sir" the voice said, still wishing that they were not the person having to make this call.

"Bore someone else with the details, whatever it is." He said preparing to put the phone down pausing when he heard a stuttering from the ear piece. "I've got enough to be dealing with at the minute as it is" he retorted, hoping to be rid of the distraction as soon as possible.

"I'm afraid it can't wait sir" the voice on the other end of the phone replied. "It's about your son" he added, he too hoping that the conversation would end.

"At this present moment in time I don't give a crap about that little shit" the man barked down the phone, considering the matter to be closed.

"But sir he's gone!" the voice blurted out, realising that he was within a few seconds of the phone being hung up on him.

"What do you mean gone?" the man replied, still not in the slightest bit interested.

"As in we can't find him."

"I KNOW WHAT GONE MEANS! I MEANT GONE WHERE!" The desk-ed man yelled causing the poor lackey on the phone to cringe and hold the device away from his fragile ear drums.

"Yes sir…of course sir…Allow me to explain sir, umm quickly, you see the tracking chip in his phone was detected as being stationary just off of a highway in the middle of no where for several hours." He could almost hear the voice ask what that had to do with him being disturbed so he continued.

"We sent someone to check it out and they found your sons phone along with another smashed to pieces a few meters from the carriageway" the voice replied, now wishing that he could be anywhere else but on the end of this phone call.

"WHAT!" the man screamed down the phone. "UTTERLY UNACCEPTABLE! YOU PEOPLE ARE SUPPOSED TO MAKE SURE YOU KNOW WHERE HE IS AT ALL TIMES." He was raging now, if he had been angry before the phone call it was nothing to how he was feeling right now.

"I DON'T CARE HOW YOU DO IT! I DON'T CARE HOW LONG IT TAKES! FIND HIM! BEFORE THE FUCKING PRESS GETS WIND OF THIS YOU IDIOTS." as he finished his face became purple.

"Don't worry sir we…" was all he heard as he slammed the receiver back onto the main unit of the device. Then in one swift motion he picked the device up and launched it across the room where it fell into pieces as if made of Lego.

Its banisher slammed his fists on his desk, breathing heavily, his face drenched in sweat. He clutched at his heart and, whipping a handkerchief from his breast pocket, wiped his forehead and emptied two little white pills from an orange bottle into the palm of his hand. Tossing them into his mouth he drained a warm half glass of water from his desk. Today was already most definitely not a good day for Mansumi Oyamada.


	8. Chapter 8

**Authors note: **Phew chapter eight at last. Again my apologies for the wait as I've done precious little bar studying for the past week. Good news is I had the first of my two exams today so only six more days of study left before I'm off for the summer, woo hoo! So without further ado thanks to Kovou for editing and please read and review.

I **don't** own Shaman King.

**Chapter 8: Morning, Relief and Manners**

The morning. There is nothing quite like The Morning. Seriously there isn't, there's mid morning and early morning and even late morning, but none of these are quite like The Morning. What makes The Morning so special is that it is unique to each individual that experiences it, and we all experience it, unless of course you are one of those people that don't get up until around 2:00pm for whatever reason, in which case what you experience is know as the afternoon not the morning, but that's another mater entirely.

Either way as I was saying, the morning is unique to everyone that experiences it. It is the first thing we experience when we get out of our bed (in the morning), before 12:00pm. The exact nature of morning is unquantifiable due to that fact that it is also unique to the person experiencing it. Another notable point would be that we never experience the exact same morning twice. Sure we may do the exact same thing every morning like get up, have a shower, toast a piece of bread, spread jam on said bread, then get shouted at by our mothers for dropping our toast, jam side down, on her kitchen floor, something she has just finished cleaning during her morning, oh dear. After making a hasty retreat from the kitchen we may go and get changed, collect whatever we have lost around the house, usually our car keys, and then leave the house for our respective destinations.

The point which I am trying to make here though is that on the surface it may seem that every morning is the same, due to the fact that we do the same things in the exact same order every morning, it isn't. Sure most of us probably do the exact same general thing every morning however it is the subtle differences that make every morning unique. For example one morning you may get up on the left side of your bed while on another you may get up on the right, or crawl out the bottom if that is your preference. When you have your shower today you may use a different shampoo from the one you used yesterday as your brother has used that last of your shampoo and not bothered to replace it, siblings who would want them. After then shouting at your brother and throwing your empty bottle of shampoo (which is always left in the shower even though it is empty) at him, you then go to the kitchen where you decide to have strawberry jam on your toast instead of raspberry. Once you have dropped your toast on the floor again you then find that your mother has come prepared for this and is carrying a mop this time. Not clean the floor with mind, but rather to beat you over the head with as you managed to get out of her reach yesterday. Today though, armed with her mop, she does not miss. Nursing a now sore head you then proceed to your bedroom and get changed into a different outfit from yesterday. Finally after finding your car keys, in a different place from the day before, you then leave the house.

So as you can see even though you do the same basic things each morning, such as having a shower and being chased by your mother, there is always a slight difference in what you do or what the outcome of what you do. This is why each morning is different and why each morning should therefore be enjoyed in its own, unique, way.

Beyond that what else can we say about the morning? Probably quite a lot but let us look at only one other aspect for defining a morning, oh yes let us now turn our attention back to a subject that has already been discussed, the weather. Actually let's not bother with that as it could get rather long winded and consequently boring. Let us instead just make note that a person's mood in the morning can be determined solely by that first glance out of the window at the weather. This will prove important later on, honest.

The clouds were slowly beginning to return to the sky on this particular morning in Funbari Hill. The sun however was not giving up without a fight it seemed, as it was still quite warm. Never the less it was a battle that it was destined to lose.

It was early, yet Yoh Asakura was awake. Not being a person for mornings Yoh would not normally have been awake at this time unless of course he was presently victim to one of Anna's training regimes, which truth be told was almost every day. Ok so perhaps Yoh would be up at this time normally anyway, but not of his own free will however. Either way the fact remains that in the utopian world, where Yoh has his free will and Anna does all the housework and cooking, he would not be awake at this time in the morning, ever. Sadly, the utopian world is just a creation of mans mind and cannot exist, otherwise we would only have gravity when we wanted it, busses would not be required and Anna would be the perfect, submissive housewife. Needless to say utopias are like mornings, unique to the individual and as such none of the above is likely to ever happen. That being said, on the other hand the first two have a much higher chance of seeing reality than the third.

Anyway the point as it stands is that Yoh Asakura was awake and there was no Anna around forcing him to be so. Ironically enough it was actually due to the absence of the Itako that he was currently wide awake in his bedroom at six o'clock in the morning.

He couldn't sleep. That was the problem. Since he had went to bed five hours previous he had managed only a few hours sleep and they were due to the fact that his body had been totally exhausted from the events of the day before. Once asleep Yoh was know to be a boy who could sleep through almost anything, only Anna possessed the ability to wake him when he did not wish it, which was most of the time.

It had been a nightmare that had woken him that morning. A nightmare where he had been forced to re-live the events of the previous day over and over, the thoughts and feelings of the past twenty four hours had circulated round his unconscious mind like humming bees. They had occurred in no particular order and he was sure that his imagination had filled in some of the details of what could potentially have happened to his friends for him, needless to say these 'sneak peeks' did not help matters. What had finally woken him was the vivid and painful memory of hearing Anna scream.

The sound, even though it was only in his head, was just as horrible to listen to as it had been in the flesh. Piercing and thunderous, it had ripped through him in the same way its owner would normally rip through his sleepy state. At the end of the day both amounted to the same thing.

Having been woken by the nightmare about an hour ago the brown haired shaman had lay staring at the ceiling, as most people do when they cannot sleep. No matter what he did he was unable to will himself back into unconsciousness. Even if he did manage sleep he could not bare to hear the Itako's scream again for he knew the nightmare would most likely be waiting for him. Glancing at the clock that sat beside him on the floor Yoh noticed that it had barely moved since he had last looked at it, not because it was broken but because he had only checked it two minuets prior.

"Urgh" the boy groaned as he realised that only two minuets had passed. There was nothing for it he would just have to get up. The only trouble there was he had no idea what to do with himself. With his meeting with the Tao's not until seven pm that evening, over twelve hours from now, Yoh had no idea what to do. His normal leisure activities such as eating, watching TV and sleeping were not very attractive at this moment in time. All he wanted to do was something that would help him find his friends.

Normality was good he thought as he rolled out from underneath his sheets, and what was more normal for him than being made to run a marathon the second he got out of bed. Standing up Yoh moved across the room and began searching through a pile of fresh laundry, looking for his sweat pants. Finding them on the bottom of the pile he pulled them on along with a fresh white t-shirt. Picking his headphones and mp3 player up from where he had left them, Yoh pocketed the small device and placed the bright orange cans over his ears. Making his way out of his room and down the stairs he collected his wrist and ankle weights from beside the door and put them on, along with his sandals. A good run would do him good. It would calm his mind, occupy his thoughts and help to pass the time, plus it would give Anna one less thing to punish him over when he eventually found her. And he was going to find her.

"I'm going out for a long run" he called out, loud enough so that the ghosts would be able to hear him regardless of where they were in the house. As if on cue Amidamaru floated through the wall behind him.

"Good morning Lord Yoh" the samurai began. "Did you sleep?"

"Hey Amidamaru." The boy interrupted without looking at the ghost as he adjusted his weights. "I'll probably be a while so just relax and enjoy yourselves this morning." he finished, deliberately avoiding the question about his sleep.

Taking the hint the guardian ghost decided to skip any further enquires into how his partner was feeling today. Instead, he decided to give some of his usual words of advice.

"Remember not to over do it as you will need to be in top condition and well rested for tonight." The samurai said reassuringly.

"Heh Heh" Yoh chuckled. "When have you ever known me to over do it when Anna isn't breathing down my neck." He said, both of them laughing as he did.

"Too true" Amidamaru replied as he followed the boy down the path to the gate.

Turning his music on Yoh set off down the road at a brisk pace wishing, for once, that he did have Anna breathing down his neck. For now at least this was the only thing he could do to help take his mind of off what had happened and what was to come.

##

At about the same time as Yoh was starting his third mile two friends were experiencing their very own morning. So far they had been rudely awoken by the sound of a mobile phone, shouted at and soon to discover that they would not be getting any breakfast, and all of this was before Morty and Anna had even woken up. Needless to say Zhang and Chao were not having the best of mornings.

The noise of the phone ringing had been bad enough. The two had both woken with sore heads after having drunk more beer than they should have the previous night. The fact that it was their boss on the other end and that he was very pissed off had not helped ease their headaches. After being shouted at for five minuets straight, over something that wasn't even their fault, their boss had, rather rudely by the way, hung up leaving them with an ear full of dial tone. This left the pair just enough time to find out that there was absolutely nothing to eat and that they had no time in which to go and fetch anything, before Zhang's phone rang again.

"WHAT!" Zhang shouted down the device in a mixture of annoyance, hunger and hangover, realising too late that if it was their boss he would probably regret it. Fortunately enough for him it wasn't, their boss that is.

"Now, now there is no need for such unseemly rudeness" a rather well spoken and chilly voice answered. "It is rather impolite of you to answer your phone in such a hasty and frankly ignorant manner" the voice continued.

"Who is it?" Chao asked of his friend.

"It's one of Kido's men" Zhang replied hurriedly, waving his hand at the other man to try and get him to shut up.

"Sorry" Zhang grumbled back to the man on the other end of the phone. "What's up?" he said, still not sounding very happy.

"We are currently standing outside your current…" the man paused for a moment "…facilities" he finally finished, as though unsure about what to call the run down old building the two men were currently occupying. Upon hearing this Zhang became both annoyed and confused.

"What do you mean you're standing outside" he replied, hopping there was a damn good explanation.

"As in we, my associates and I, are currently upright on our feet outside the run down old garage that you are currently inside." the man said smoothly. Zhang was getting rather impatient now.

"Yes I'm well aware of what standing is, thanks, so I kind of gathered that" he retorted. "I meant why?" he finished, the conversation doing nothing to help his sore head.

"Elementary my dear fellow" he said. When no reply was forthcoming he continued, rather disappointed that his comment had not been enough to generate a response. "We are standing out here because you have yet to let us inside." Realising that he was fighting a losing battle of wits here, Zhang decided to get straight to the point.

"Fine I'll send Chao up to let you in" he said and hung up the phone.

"Go upstairs, let them in and then bring them down here." Zhang said to his partner, rubbing the back of his head as he did so.

"What the hell are they doing here this early?" Chao asked, looking and sounding puzzled.

"I don't know just do it ok" Zhang snapped back as he began searching the room for some aspirin.

"Geeze you're pissed off this morning" Chao said as he left the room, wondering if his partner had had even more beer the previous night than he himself had had.

Walking up the stairs Chao entered the garage and made his way over to the door. As it slowly rose he could begin to see the shadows off three men grow along the floor towards where the van was parked. Once the shutter was at its full height the Chinese man could now see the men who had cast the shadows. Two of them were just normal looking thugs but the one in the middle was a different class of criminal entirely.

"Good morning" the man said in a calm, unnerving and sleek manner as he walked into the garage, followed closely by his associates.

##

Morty awoke to… well nothing really. This morning he awoke naturally, al be it slightly sore, for stone does not make good bedding material, hence why we use feathers or things of the ilk. Either way he was now awake. As he glanced around at his surroundings the memories of the previous day came back to him. He had been kidnapped along with Anna; most likely due to (as he now understood) something his father had gotten himself involved with, and had been locked here in this cell wherever here was. For neither he nor the blond Itako had any idea of where they had been taken. As this thought came to him he remembered that he had decided against talking about the newspaper article that shed light on so many things to do with their current situation.

The girl in question was lying in the far left hand corner of the cell, apparently still asleep and waking Anna from her sleep was most defiantly on Morty's list of things he never wanted to do, ever.

Come to think of it about 45.5% of that list involved the Itako in some way, while the remaining 54.5% had something to do with the illustrious Doctor Faust VIII and his never ending interest in Morty's physical condition, Morty's health and wellbeing, or just Morty in general really. Never the less it appeared that he wasn't going to get much choice in either matter as Faust was both inhumanly patient and persistent and, more importantly, he needed to speak to Anna about the article before the kidnappers next returned.

Besides she would most likely not be too happy about him not waking her if they did. Ignoring his fear, and his better judgement, Morty walked across to the other side of the cell where the girl still slept.

"Anna" he whispered in the girl's ear as he shook her right shoulder.

What happened next was so fast that Morty didn't even have time comprehend it let alone react. As his hand closed onto her shoulder Anna rolled over and grabbed hold of Morty's outstretched arm with her left hand, her eyes flying wide open as she did.

Morty almost screamed out as the blonde girls eyes glowed yellow for a split second before she realised who it was. A moment later and she had regained control of herself, now sure that it was not one of the two kidnapers who had woken her.

As her eyes retuned to normal Morty felt that it was now safe to say something.

"Uh Anna" he stammered, laughing slightly as he always did when he was this nervous. "Do you mind letting go of my hand now? I can't feel my fingers" he said, still stammering.

"Oh sorry Morty" she replied, sounding slightly surprised. As she did so she let go of the boys crushed hand, which he began to check over to ensure it was ok. He could almost see Faust sit bolt upright wherever he was in Germany with Eliza, his Morty senses tingling. For a split second a small smile curled the corner of his mouth before the situation's seriousness robbed him of the image and its comfort.

"I suppose there was a reason for you waking me" she said in a low voice.

"Yeah there is" the boy replied, sounding rather sombre and trying to avoid her gaze. "Here read this" he finished, deciding that there was no point in stalling, she had to find out sooner or later he thought as he held out the newspaper to the Itako. She took it from him with a slightly confused look on her face however as she glanced at the headline she did not need to ask why he had given it to her.

There was an awkward silence in the room as Anna read the article. Once she had finished she simply folded the paper up and placed it on the ground beside her. Then she looked at Morty who was still trying to avoid her gaze.

"So that's it then" she finally said, her voice still low and calm. "Your fathers gotten himself into something that's turned sour and so you've been kidnapped in retaliation and I've been caught up in the whole mess trying to be the Good Samaritan."

"Yeah it seems that way." Morty said, still unable to face the Itako out of guilt. She had tried to save him and now she was trapped likely to suffer the same fate he was because he knew that his father would not yield to any demands that had him as the bargaining chip. Mansumi Oyamada was himself one of the most dangerous types of terrorists- a CEO with both money and power. He did not negotiate with lesser terrorists. Before he could say anything else on the matter however, Anna turned on him.

"Look at me Shorty when I speak to you" she said, her tone never changing. Upon hearing Anna talk to him like this Morty managed to force his eyes to look into the Itako's.

"This is not your fault. So stop acting like it is and that I'm going to rip your head off over it… or I will rip your head off." The blond almost smiled as she finished.

It wasn't really comfort, rather relief that filled Morty as he deciphered what the Itako had said. It was then that he realised that even after all the time he had spent with her he knew almost nothing about her. He had been so sure that upon discovering that the reason that she had been, for want of a better word, tortured was due to him, that she would have selfishly blamed him entirely, beat him up and then refuse to talk to him. Yet here she was telling him, in a very Anna like way, that it was not his fault and that there was no issue between them. Before he could consider this further Anna spoke to him again.

"Do you mind if I use some of this?" she said, holding the news paper up in her hand.

"Hmm what for…" he began. Then he saw the look on the girls face and he blushed.

"Turn around and don't look at me" Anna commanded as she walked over to the far right hand side of the cell.

As he turned around to face the opposite direction Morty heard the sound of the paper being torn, he felt a lot better now that he had spoken to Anna.

##

A few minutes before Morty woke Anna, in the corridor outside their cell room the three men, followed by Chao, entered the room in which Zhang and Chao had spent the night. The little space that there was, was a mess and quite frankly filthy but none of the five men save one seemed to care.

Mr Ishida was a man who did not like mess or filth. Thus he naturally despised being in such a place and, by extension, being surrounded by such individuals who could produce it. Such as those whose company he was now in, that also included his own accomplices for they were no better than the two men he had come here to meet, Filthy creatures.

At six foot four inches Mr Ishida was by far the tallest of the group however he was also the leanest. Standing there in a pin striped suit, utterly immaculate down to the most intricate detail he looked completely out of place amongst the other criminals, who were all muscular, gruff and a bit dishevelled looking. When he spoke he was calm and smooth and sounded well educated.

"Make yourselves…" his mottled green eyes did another scan of the room and filled with obvious disgust. He settled for the word furthest from his assessment on the place. "…comfortable gentlemen." he said to the room at large.

At this the two men who had accompanied him sat down on the moth eaten couch beside the door while Chao took up residence in the stained armchair, on the other side of the coffee table, covered in junk and water rings, where it sat in the centre of the small seating arrangement. Preferring to stand Zhang leaned his back against the wall on the right had side of the door while Mr Ishida himself moved to stand on the other side of the coffee table, facing Zhang.

"Why are you so early Ishida?" Zhang said, looking directly at the man as he did. "You were not supposed to be here for another four hours." Ishida surveyed Zhang before he responded, he had dealt with the man before so he knew what to expect, good manners…and hygiene were hard to find amongst criminals such as these.

"Always so impatient Zhang, you never seem to have the time for simple pleasantries or basic manners. Did your mother teach you nothing?" Mr Ishida responded his sleek voice sounding and elongating every syllable properly.

Zhang was no fool. He saw the bait and chose to ignore it. It was always best to avoid this sort of confrontation when dealing with the man.

"My apologies" he said eventually, trying to sound as civil as he could. "I have a sore head and an empty stomach so I would rather that we dealt with business as quickly as possible. Now do you mind explaining to Chao and myself why you have come here so early?" He finished, still managing to sound reasonably civil.

"Much better, you see that wasn't so hard was it?" Ishida replied, almost sounding surprised that the Chinese man had not taken the bait. "Since you are not feeling yourself I shall try to keep this as brief as possible. The reason that we are here so early is due to the fact that the van in which we had planed to transport the merchandise in met with an unfortunate… accident this morning."

"An unfortunate accident?" Zhang repeated quizzically, hoping that Ishida would hurry up and get to the point.

"Yes it was rather ill-fated I suppose, for the driver at any rate. We only found parts of him you see." The man in the suit replied in a rather whimsical and uncaring manner.

"What happened?" Chao interrupted from his chair.

"From what I have been told the van exploded. As for the reason for this, I am afraid we currently do not know. Needless to say it is of little to no surprise that we are still missing half of a driver. Such a pity, good drivers are becoming increasingly difficult to come by these days." Ishida replied, not even bothering to acknowledge that it was Chao who had asked the question; instead he continued to look towards Zhang.

"That still does not explain why you are here early?" Zhang said, seeing that they were getting off topic.

"All in good time my friend" Ishida responded, using the word friend in the loosest possible way. "The loss of this van has unfortunately caused us a slight problem, for we have no spares at the moment." He said, sounding slightly as though this conversation was only of secondary importance to him. Seeing where this was headed Zhang decided that he had had almost enough of the man.

"So what you are away to tell us is that because you don't have a van that is available at this point in time you will be unable to collect the shipment today." Zhang said it was more of a statement than a question.

"My, we are perceptive on an empty stomach aren't we?" Ishida replied, his lips curling into a thin smile as he did so. "Yes. This is regrettably the position that we currently find ourselves in." he finished.

"That is totally unacceptable." Zhang began, "The boss will not accept this in the slightest. How are we supposed to explain to him that a pile of his merchandise is not going to be moved today? Furthermore he is not going to get his money today is he? He is pissed off enough this morning as it stands" He was almost shouting now.

"My dear fellow do you honestly think that I would leave you in such a position!" the smiling, green eyed man asked feigning hurt. "Of course not, that would be rude of me. I have already taken the liberty of contacting your boss and explaining the situation. He was, as you quite finely put it, pissed off. However after a bit of renegotiation he told us to drop by anyway and arrange with you…" Again that loss of words happened and he was forced to settle for one furthest from his current appraisal on the situation. "…Fine gentlemen, when it would be convenient for us to arrange to collect the aforementioned merchandise." As he spoke Mr Ishida suddenly sounded as though he had become interested in the conversation, now that it had reached this point.

"Fine" Zhang replied sounding slightly relieved that he would not have to try and explain the situation to their boss. "You can come back tomorrow. That is if you have a van available."

"I'm afraid that tomorrow is no better for us than today. Perhaps the day after, should it be suitable for you." Ishida answered.

"Fine with us" Zhang said, glad that the conversation was almost at its end, a few pleasantries and he would be able to go upstairs and get some fresh air.

"Capital." Ishida replied "Is eleven o'clock good for you?"

"I suppose it will do. Now let me show you out." Zhang said as he moved towards the door, considering the conversation over. Ishida did not move.

"Before I go I have a question for you" Ishida said, sounding more interested now than at any point during the entire conversation. "Who is that blond haired girl?"


	9. Chapter 9

**Authors note: **Wooot my exams are over and done with, now begins four months of freedom, everyone party!

Ok so maybe partying is not the best of ideas at this moment in time, we do have a chapter to get through after all. As always thanks to Kovou for helping me edit this. Also thanks to radiance51 for your review. In regards to your comments I am in no way mad at the fact that you skim over my intros as I consider them to be a bunch of mad ramblings anyway. Unfortunately I can't write the story without them as I need them to help me start each chapter. Personally I don't mind if people skip them as they are not essential to the plot line, they merely provide a bit of humour as there is not much in the story itself due to its nature.

Anyway on a related matter I require another volunteer for chapter ten so as I did previously I offer to anyone who has reviewed or does review, before I finish it and upload it, the chance to be said volunteer, so if you are skimming through my introductions you wont be able to if you want to see yourself. So as always all feedback is welcome and every attempt will be made to answer questions.

P.S. Sorry for the length of this chapter, I promise that the next one will be longer, honest :)

I **don't** own Shaman King.

**Chapter 9: Shock, Sleep and Brunch. **

Shock. What a curious, odd feeling it can be. In the first chapter alone there were several instances in which people were shocked. For example Morty Oyamada was shocked at suddenly finding himself three foot off the ground and in the clutches of someone other than Faust. This stranger then in turn was shocked by the force of blow he was dealt by Anna Kyoyama, who was then shocked, literally, by a taser. All of this then shocked Yoh Asakura as he watched on.

As can be seen from this simple example shock has a domino effect, one person becomes shocked and then suddenly they pass it on to someone else and so on until everyone is shocked. However shock does not always work in a linear fashion. It often works in more of a cone shaped pattern, something happens that causes the initial shock and as it spreads out more and more people become shocked. A simple example of this would be something that occurred when last we encountered Mr Ishida.

When last we met this man, he said something that shocked the four other occupants of the room he was in. This in turn, I would hope, caused a slight amount of shock amongst you all. So let us return to Mr Ishida and his now shocked companions. On second thoughts, before we do so, there are a few things that must be discussed in order for us to fully understand why Mr Ishida was able to shock everyone.

From his last question it is clear that somehow, Mr Ishida had seen Anna Kyoyama, of that there can be no doubt. Unless of course there was another blonde haired girl somewhere on the premises, in which case we have a serious problem on our hands as blond girls running around all over the place is… well it's unhygienic that's what it is, this isn't wonderland after all. Furthermore none of the men in the room were aware that he had seen Anna, up until the moment in which he asked his question regarding her, the two men he brought with him did not, and still don't, even realise that Anna exists. So how can Mr Ishida have seen Anna, given that she is locked in a cell in another room? The answer to this question is actually quite simple and is dependent solely of the layout of the basement and the positions of the people in it.

If you cast your minds back to when the layout of the basement was first described the description of it was given as thus. A short corridor with three doors leading off of it, all of them on the same wall to the left of the stairwell that led up to the ground floor. The door on the far left hand side belonged to a small and fairly disgusting toilet. The middle door led to a room which the two men were using to eat, sleep and chill out and the final door was the largest room of the basement which, at this present moment in time, was occupied by a caged Anna and Morty.

In this instance the important parts of the layout are that the room in which Mr Ishida and the rest off the men are occupying has a wall on its right had side which it shares with the room in which Morty and Anna are being kept. This wall also happens to be directly opposite the cell in which Morty and Anna are currently locked; this cell runs the entire length of the room, about four meters. Back on the other side of the wall Mr Ishida, purely by chance, stood in a position so that he was facing the wall which had the cell room on the other side of it. From this then we can deduce that if there was no wall Mr Ishida would have an unrestricted view of the room, bar where Zhang is standing. All this is well and good and makes perfect sense as to why Mr Ishida would have been able to see the blond haired girl, except for one minor detail, there is a bloody great big stone wall between the two rooms.

So how did he mange it? X-ray vision? Alas the answer is nothing as interesting as that, although it is interesting and is most definitely important. The fact of the matter was that there was no trickery involved what so ever, all Mr Ishida had to do was stand where he was and watch what was going on in the other room, which isn't exactly hard if there is a large, if rather dirty, window in the wall between the two rooms.

The existence of this window is purely for observing the people in the cell. Basically it allows Zhang and Chao to keep an eye on Anna and Morty when they are not in the cell room, crude but effective. It is also worth noting that neither Anna nor Morty is aware of this window as for one there is not much light in their room; the window is situated behind the only light source so it is in shadow. Secondly it is both tinted to reduce the non existent glare and health hazard filthy so it blends into the background décor of soiled wall rather nicely.

I hasten to add in an effort to clarify any confusion that the window is not invisible from the habitable part of the building, only half as grimy on the other side and frankly rather obvious that it is there, however only one of the three men who entered the room with Chao is an observant person.

From his position Mr Ishida had the pleasure of being able to watch everything that went on in the cell as if he were watching the discovery channel. He had entered at the point when Morty woke up and proceeded to watch with interest giving that current conversation was not as enthralling. Sadly, the flaw in this, which given the opportunity he personally would have liked to correct, was he did not have sound; the picture was still mildly enjoyable without it though, silent pictures have a charm all of their own So when he asked his question about Anna it is not much of a surprise that all four men were slightly taken aback, two of them more so than the rest.

"Who" Mr Ishida reiterated patiently "Is the blond girl?"

Upon hearing this remark for a second time, the two men who he had brought with him began to look between each other and the man in the suit wearing identical looks of sheer bewilderment For they had no idea what he was talking about.

Zhang and Chao looked at each other, Chao had a look on his face that said how the hell does he know about her while Zhang merely pointed to the dirty window and shook his head at his partner. When it became apparent that an answer was still not forthcoming Mr Ishida decided to try again somewhat less patiently.

"I shall ask again shall I? Who is that blonde girl in the black dress in the cell with the vertically challenged boy?" he asked for the third this point the two men that had arrived with him were beginning to think that their boss had lost it.

"Uh boss what girl?" One of them finally ventured with trepidation. This comment was ignored however as Zhang, seeing that Ishida was going to be persistent decided that he would try and fob him off so that he could finally get some air.

"She's no one Ishida just a girl. You know how it is in our line of work we have a lot of whores to deal with." He said, hoping that the man would take the hint that she was nothing worth bothering about.

"Come now Zhang do not insult me. We both know that she looks far too good to pass as just one of your usual girls. I think there is something that you're not telling me." Ishida replied, sensing that there was more to the matter than Zhang was willing to disclose. "She isn't for sale is she? I'm sure my employer would be more than willing to pay a handsome amount for such a fetching specimen." He continued, emphasizing his last point. Zhang looked at him, not liking where this conversation was headed.

"I'm afraid not." he eventually said, trying to close the matter here and now. "We have not long since… acquired her and the boss has not decided what he intends to do with her yet and we will not sell her without his say so." Zhang said firmly.

"Such a pity" Mr Ishida said, sounding rather dismayed. "I, like my employer, am a man of fine taste. I would of course like to inspect her more closely myself…" he allowed this to hang in the air a moment, testing the water. When Zhang's firm expression did not alter he continued. "…But based purely on first impressions, believe me when I say I have not seen much finer than her in a very long time and certainly not in one so young. Alas."

He turned to his men. "Well I suppose that will do for now. Come on you two we have wasted enough of these gentlemen's time as it is." On hearing their boss address them the two men got up from their seats and walked towards the door.

The five men left the room and walked up the stairs and out of the garage. As Chao closed the shutter Zhang escorted Mr Ishida and his men to their car. As the door was opened Mr Ishida placed one foot into the car then paused and turned to Zhang.

"If you happen to change your mind between now and before we arrive to collect the merchandise in two days time you know how to get in touch with me. I can almost guarantee you that my employer would be willing to part with around one hundred to one hundred and fifty million Yen for her, based purely on my appraisal" he paused for a moment "provided she was at least in part..." he searched for a word that fit "…cooperative." He finally decided on as he climbed fully into the car, not bothering to wait for a response.

As the strange ensemble drove off Chao came over to Zhang. "What was that all about?" he asked him quizzically.

"Just Ishida trying to get his manicured paw's on a new bitch for his boss." He replied dismissing the entire disturbance. "Lets go get something to eat I'm starving" he said as his stomach rumbled.

As they walked down the road Zhang couldn't help think about what Ishida had said to him as he had got into his car. Something about it was not quite right but he couldn't place it. It was as though Ishida had done it deliberately just to annoy him. Putting it to the back of his mind he began to discuss something relating to a tip he had for the big meeting at one of the race cards for the day. A horse that was going to make him if not rich at least give him his money back provided the going was good. He would probably hedge his bets and place it each way to be safe now that he thought about it. They argued a while over this. It was only when the two men finally arrived at a diner for breakfast that Zhang realised exactly what it was that had bothered him about Ishida's closing remarks.

##

It was about lunch time when Yoh Asakura finally returned home from his run. His mp3 player had died a sorry death, due to an uncharged battery, about an hour ago, meaning that he had nothing but the pain in his legs to concentrate on. It had been a hard and very long run, Anna would have been satisfied, well as satisfied as she ever got with her fiancés efforts in training.

As he staggered through the front door the two guardian ghosts, who had heard him come up the path, floated over to great him.

"Lord Yoh!" they said in almost perfect unison, slightly shocked by they boys current appearance.

"Not now guys" the shaman responded in a weak voice, as he promptly collapsed onto the porch floor. As he did so the two ghosts gasped in horror. Then they relaxed as the sound of the boy's snoring filled their ears.

"I did warn him not to over do it" Amidamaru said to his friend, no longer worried about his partner as it was a rather common occurrence for him to collapse into a heap and sleep when he returned from such a heavy work out.

"Will he be okay for this evening?" Mosuke responded, not being as used to said occurrence as the samurai.

"He will be fine once he has slept for a while." Amidamaru responded. "I do not think he slept much last night, this may in fact help him to get some rest before we head out tonight."

"I hope you are right my friend" Mosuke replied, not sounding convinced by the samurais logic.

"Do not worry Mosuke. You shall be soon be reunited with Morty as will Yoh be with Anna. Of that I am certain. As Lord Yoh always says it'll work out." Amidamaru said reassuringly.

With that the two ghosts decided to leave the boy in peace, for there was nothing they could do to move him anyway, and went back to there usual spot beside the tree in the back garden.

##

At about the same time as Yoh had collapsed into a heap from exhaustion, Zhang and Chao had returned from their breakfast. After yet another argument, this time over Ishida, the two men were no longer speaking to one another. Incidentally the Horse had fallen at the first post.

Having stopped off at the same shop they had visited yesterday, the two men entered the cell room carrying exactly the same things as they had had with them the previous night, minus a crate of beer but with a second bottle of water, somehow it did not quite seem a fair trade off.

"Here" Zhang said in much the same way he had the previous night, as he tossed the two bottles of water through the bars, the bread soon followed suit.

"Now we have some other things to take care of today. If you are good I might consider giving you something more substantial than dry bread for your dinner." Zhang said. Seeing that no response was going to come he turned to leave.

Maybe Chao was right he thought as he reached the door. Perhaps the blonde girl had not been as strong as he had first anticipated and they had in fact broken her, for she had remained perfectly silent since being tasered for a second time. Pushing the thought to the back of his mind he left the room behind his partner, leaving the two prisoners alone yet again.

"Looks like they have no intention of telling us anything" Morty said as he sat down to eat what was effectively breakfast and lunch. "You should have some too Anna" he continued as he swallowed a mouthful of water. "They even gave us two bottles of water this time" he finished as he bit into his first piece of bread.

"I'm not hungry" Anna replied slowly as she sank back down to the floor, her back against one of the walls.

"You need to eat Anna" the boy replied. "If you don't you won't have the strength to summon your Shikigamis."

"I said I'm not hungry Morty" the blonde snapped back at the young shaman, causing him to recoil away from her slightly.

Seeing that it would only be more foolish to pursue the matter Morty returned to his own food. He may have been right, however that did not count for much when you were dealing with Anna, he new that from personal experience.

Finishing his breakfast come lunch Morty sat in silence with only his thoughts to keep him company. At the moment they concerned the Itako. He was becoming increasingly worried about her for she was not her normal self, although who could blame her after all that had happened to her in the past twenty four hours. Never the less he was still more than slightly concerned about her. Trying to think of something else Morty quickly realised that this was going to be a very long day indeed.


	10. Chapter 10

**Authors note: **Ok so I can't quite believe that this has reached ten chapters, yes ten chapters!, count them :) I apologise for the time it has taken to update this chapter but as promised this chapter is longer than the previous one so I hope you all enjoy. Chapter 11 is already underway and should hopefully be up by the middle of next week. Thanks to Kovou for editing this for me (I really need to come up with something new to say here don't I).

Also as promised (I'm getting good at these promise thingies) one of you will feature in this chapter in a similar fashion to chapter 5.

As always any coments, questions and curios are welcome.

I **don't** own Shaman King

**Chapter 10: Waiting, Triggers and Sushi.**

Waiting. When it comes down to it, waiting is what we spend most of our lives doing, even if you are not employed as a waiter. Unfortunately it is also one of the most unavoidable things in life. In fact the only thing more unavoidable than waiting is death itself, however even death is something that we all must wait for, some of us longer than others. Either way waiting is something that we have all experienced from day one and will continue to experience right up until they nail shut our coffins. Whether it is standing in the pouring rain waiting for a bus, in a restaurant waiting for your meal to arrive, at home waiting desperately for your girlfriend to call, or simply waiting in a queue at the supermarket checkout, waiting is an everyday occurrence.

However all of these simple acts of waiting pale in comparison when compared to the single act of waiting that everyone in life experiences. For some people this period of waiting lasts fifteen years, for others twenty, for some it can even last for up to seventy years, and for a few who are very unlucky they spend their entire lives waiting for this one event which never happens.

At this point you may be wondering what this event could possibly be. What could some people spend their whole lives waiting for, yet never experience? Some of you may suggest that it is fairly obvious what I am about to discuss and with that in mind expect me to go on and talk about love, to those of you who do think this then I am afraid that I must disappoint you. The event which I am actually going to talk about is something which is in fact far more important than love and something that everyone should come to realise as soon as possible.

I am of course talking about the point at which a person's life begins. How many times have you been told by someone that you are young and that you have your whole life ahead of you? How many times have you been told by either a parent or a guardian or even a school teacher, that what you are currently doing with your life at this moment in time is preparing for your life to start?

It is a sad reality that this is what most people get told when they are growing up. Both parents and teachers fill people's heads with nonsense about waiting for life to start and young people generally believe it, and then one day you find ten years have got behind you*. As I sit here and write this I am twenty two years old. If I am lucky enough to live well into my eighties then I have already lived half of my life. If I am not so lucky I may have already lived a quarter of my life. If I am unluckier still I may have lived almost half my life already. The point I am trying to make here is that life does not begin at some point in the future. Life begins from the moment you enter the world and the quicker you realise this fact the longer that you actually have to live and enjoy it.

So what does it all mean and, more importantly, what the bloody hell does all this talk about waiting for life to begin have to do with the current events in our story? The answer to this is that things do not always happen. You can wait your entire life for it to start but it never will until you decide to take control and do something about it. This also holds true for many situations in which you are waiting, if you just decide to take control of the situation you will find that things actually happen and that you no longer have to wait. However, and this is the important bit, there are some situations that are almost completely out of your control and there is nothing for you to do but pass the time waiting. It was one of these situations that Yoh Asakura was faced with last we saw him.

At this point I feel that we have all done enough waiting now and can move on with the actual story. Furthermore we shall also avoid discussing the period over which Yoh spent his time waiting and move forwards in time to the point where he can actually do something about his current situation, don't good things come to those who wait?

It was evening now in Funbari Hill. The sun was setting and the clouds were now much thicker than they had been earlier in the day, it looked like they were preparing for a comeback tour, complete with rain and lightning. For now though it was still dry, if a lot cooler than it had been earlier. As he walked down the street Yoh Asakura looked up towards the aforementioned clouds and hoped that they would hold off for a while longer before starting their opening number, entitled hello we're back and we're here to piss on you.

Having woken up at about six o'clock Yoh had felt rather refreshed. He had slept on the porch floor for about six hours and it had been bliss. Both his body and mind had been so tired that even the nightmare he had had the previous night had been unable to force its way through. Once he had woken it was clear to him that his bodies recharge rate was a now a lot shorter than it used to be, thanks to all of Anna's training, for he felt neither sore nor tired. He did however feel exceptionally hungry so you could imagine his reaction when we went to the kitchen and discovered that he had eaten almost everything that was edible the previous night, twenty four hours without food will do that to a person.

Having then sworn, rather loudly I might add, Yoh rounded up the two guardian ghosts and headed out to get a burger before heading to En's sushi restaurant. It was lucky that Anna had actually given him some money for a change he thought, as approached the entrance to the burger bar. Normally he would only ever have any when he was doing the grocery shopping, otherwise he would eat double cheese burgers a lot more often than he did, which was most likely why Anna kept a firm hold over their finances.

The party of one shaman and two ghosts entered the building in the same manner in which they had made the entire journey, in silence. Normally a trip to the burger bar would be fun and filled with a large amount of laughter, but not tonight. No, tonight their visit was one of convenience not of enjoyment. As he made his way over to the counter a voice called out to the brown haired shaman.

"Hey sweetie" the young girl from behind the counter called to the boy to get his attention. "What can I get you?" she asked, a smile forming on her lips.

Yoh looked up at the girl and tried to structure a replica smile in return before eventually answering her question.

"Double cheeseburger with large fries, large coke and a portion of onion rings" the boy replied, trying to sound slightly cheerful but falling miserably. Fortunately however it was enough as the girl simply wrote his order down and told him to take a seat, clearly her attempt at charming him had not worked, which is possibly not a good thing as if it had of worked then the effect would have saved Yoh a lot of trouble as Anna would have somehow managed to appear, if only to beat her fiancé senseless before returning to her cell. Ok so perhaps it is not such a good thing, sure Yoh would find Anna for a few moments but on the flip side we would end up having to wait around in a hospital for a few days for him to regain consciousness before he would be able go and find her.

The burger bar was virtually empty at that moment in time so it was not hard for Yoh to find a table where there was no one else near by. Sliding down into a seat he tried to avoid the gaze of his two companions as they floated around the table beside him. Eventually one of them broke their unnatural silence.

"I sense that you are worried Lord Yoh" Amidamaru said, trying to get his partners attention. Eventually Yoh looked up at him a smile on his face.

"Me worried?" he said, hoping to end the discussion before it could begin. "Nah. You know me Amidamaru worried isn't in my vocabulary. It'll work out, like always." he continued, hopping that he sounded genuine enough.

"I do know you Yoh and that is why I can tell when there is something bothering you…" he paused for a moment before finishing his sentence "and when you are lying and attempting to hide how you truly feel." The samurai concluded. Seeing that his guardian ghost had saw right through his charade the brown haired shaman decided that it was probably for the best to lay his cards on the table and get the conversation over with. Before he could however a waitress slid a tray in front of him.

"Here you go, enjoy" she said as she wandered away in much the same manner as she had arrived.

Looking down at his food Yoh realised that he was still extremely hungry so wasted no time in shovelling a large handful of fries into his mouth. Junk food had never tasted so good he thought as he continued shovelling his meal down his throat. When he finally came up for air he remembered that he still owed Amidamaru an explanation, the brief moment of happiness he had felt vanished as quickly as it had come as reality sunk in once more. He shouldn't be enjoying this he realised as he downed half of his coke in the one go. Morty and Anna were who knows where and here he was stuffing his face with cheeseburgers and fries.

Eventually, after polishing off the last of his onion rings, Yoh looked up at his guardian ghost and his friend. Both of them stared back at him intently, Amidamaru still waiting for his reply, eventually it came.

"Your right" the brown haired shaman said, sighing as he did so. "I've never been worried before a shaman fight but this…this is different. In a shaman fight no one else gets hurt but here… Anna and Morty are in danger and if I make a single mistake one or both of them could get hurt or worse…" before he could finish the samurai cut him off.

"That will not happen Yoh" he said firmly, seeing the danger in his partners current train of thought. "If we work together, like we do in battle, we will find and save both Lady Anna and Lord Morty. Isn't that right Mosuke?"

On hearing his name Mosuke looked up as though he had been completely oblivious to the conversation that he was now being asked to provide input to, the fact that he had been oblivious to it was neither here nor there. He had simply been worried himself and in turn missed the entire conversation about Yoh being worried, blacksmiths; they never have their minds in the right place, just look at the hands of their apprentices for proof.

"Sorry" he stammered, unsure of what to say next. Eventually he settled for "Sorry I was too busy thinking about Morty that I missed the conversation." Amidamaru and Yoh looked at the now embarrassed blacksmith and, as if they were in spirit unity, burst out laughing at the exact same time.

"Ah Mosuke" the samurai managed to say through tears of laughter. "You somehow always manage to let your mind wander. It must be the blacksmith in you" he finished trying to stop himself laughing as he did.

"That is not fair Amidamaru. My mind only wandered due to the fact that I am worried about my shaman. And what does being a blacksmith have to do with it." Mosuke replied indignantly. At this both samurai and shaman burst out laughing again, Mosuke did not look amused.

After a few moments of laughter Yoh finally came to himself and glanced at his watch.

"Ok guys" he said, returning to the flat tone that had become his normal over the past two days. "Come on it's time to go" he finished, getting up from his chair as he did.

Walking to the counter the brown haired shaman fished in his pocket for some money. As the two ghosts floated over to, well, float behind him, Yoh handed the money over to the girl behind the counter.

"Here" he said, not bothering to look up at her. "Keep the change" he finished, not caring that he had paid almost double what he owed.

"Thanks a lot sweetie. You come back any time you want." She said as the boy made his way to the door. As he opened it he stopped and turned to look at her.

"Sorry but I'm already taken" he said flatly, not caring that it was in fact both unnecessary and cruel of him, perhaps it was more of a reassurance to himself that, although she was not here, he was still bound to Anna and she to him.

After they exited the burger bar the trio of one shaman and two ghosts made their way down the road in the same manner in which they had arrived half an hour ago. Now that Yoh had eaten there was only this walk between him and the only clue that he had to the whereabouts of his friends, he just hoped that the information which Len had practically refused to give him the previous night was worth the wait.

*(And then one day you find, ten years have got behind you.) Is a line from the Pink Floyd track Time, from their 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon. I **do not** own the rights to this album or track and used a sample of the lyrics purely because I felt that there was no better way to sum up the point I was making. Anyone who is interested should go and find a copy of the album and give it a listen as it is fantastic, however don't rush off and do it right now as we have a chapter to finish. Anyway that aside let us return to Funbari.

##

Triggers are cool, or are they? I can never decide. Now before you all go jumping to conclusions I must make one thing quite clear. At this point I am not referring to the triggers that you find on firearms, that is another subject entirely and one which would take far longer to explain as it would require me to discuss the inner workings of said firearms, and even then they don't all work in the same way, guns, who needs them? And before someone answers that was a rhetorical question. No seriously it was, as I have no intention of getting us all involved in a heated debate over whether guns are good or bad, personally I disagree with them and so since I am the author what I say goes, so there.

Anyway let us get back to the subject of triggers, before Kovou shows up and argues the point that as she is proof reader and editor she should have a say in the matter, the fact that she would agree with me on this issue is moot. I am master of this universe and that is that, no Len that is not a cue for you to begin an argument over the use of that title.

Sorry, where were we? Does anyone even know? No? Ok how about we go and discuss something else, triggers are always fun lets talk about them. Ok so here we go triggers, not triggers that you would find on a firearm mind. Oh here we go again. Why do things always seem to spiral into circular arguments? Perhaps we should discuss them instead. Actually that sounds like a pretty good idea; let's do that then shall we.

Circular arguments aka Arguments that go round and round endlessly. As you will often find most arguments begin somewhere, go somewhere else, then come back to the original point without anything actually being resolved, what fun. Well it is if that sort of thing floats you boat or you happen to be a Scottish comedian known as The Big Yin, anyway how such things keep a boat afloat is beyond me, I always assumed it had something to do with buoyancy, oh well.

Either way as you are probably all well aware circular arguments crop up quite frequently and are always counter productive, unless of course the person who initiated the argument did so to buy some time for something, knowing full well that the person whom with they have just started an argument will argue back and that the argument will become circular, anyone think I'm beginning to sound like Captain Jack Sparrow? Some people are in fact so good at doing this that they are employed to do just that, for further information google bureaucrat.

Anyway the main thing to note from a circular argument is that there is always something that sets it off. One little thing, whether it be a single word, a prior event, or even a spot of rain, something always sets them off, like the trigger on a gun. Another important phrase related to circular arguments is as follows; 'Now we have come full circle.' As you might imagine this phrase describes exactly what happens in a circular argument, the clues in the name. You may also have realised that that is exactly what has just happened. So, in keeping with the current theme of circular arguments, who's up for discussing triggers? No one? Oh well, as another disputant of the title Master of the Universe once put it, tough.

Triggers are curious things when you come to think about them. Before I expand on why they happen to be curious I should better explain what I mean by trigger. A trigger is simply something that sets something else off. In the case we going to discuss, we are going to focus on triggers that cause emotional reactions in humans, lucky us.

Take for example two people, no not person X and person Y as they are currently busy, and besides I said people not persons, which as it turns out is a rather key difference in this example. When we previously used person X and person Y, they were purely there for experimental purposes, we had absolutely no interest in them as people, this is where we must now deviate. This time we must actually define who the two people we are going to experiment on are, so let's give them names, how about Trey and Rio, they sound like good names don't they. The reason why we must define our people is that in this experiment our results are emotional responses and emotional responses require people with emotions.

So what are we going to Trey and Rio? Well for starters we need to pluck them out of the middle of nowhere and put them somewhere where we can see them, let's do that now shall we.

Ok so we now have Trey and Rio where we can see them what next? Now what we are going to do is we are going to expose Trey and Rio to different things and observe their reactions. Why don't we start things off nice and simple?

"Ok you can dump that thirty tonne of snow now."

As you may have gathered Trey and Rio are now buried under about ten foot of snow. Unfortunately for us we now have to wait until they dig themselves out before we can observe their reactions.

_Half an hour Later_

Well that took longer than expected, are you still awake Chashkieh… good, let's go and observe some reactions. So Trey and Rio have finally dug themselves out and are now standing atop a very large pile of snow. Being from the north and being an avid snowboarder, Trey, is now running around overjoyed at the sight of snow and is climbing onto his snowboard as we speak, Rio on the other hand is not happy in the slightest. The reason for Rio not being very happy is that when the snow fell on him his pompadour got crushed underneath it, oh dear looks like I am most definitely off of his Christmas card list, sorry Rio.

What does all this snow business tell us then? In this case quite a lot in fact, for you see we have just witnessed two very different emotional responses to the same stimulus, or trigger as we are calling it. On one hand the sudden appearance of snow made Trey burst with joy while on the other it made Rio very unhappy and upset, trigger things really are quite amazing are they not?

Now let us reset things and see what happens when we introduce a different stimulus. For this to work I am going to need a volunteer, any takers? Ok Chashkieh you'll do just fine, now go and find a toilet and change into this, then come back.

Ok so while Chashkieh is getting ready let us remove the snow and fix Rio's pompadour for him. So Trey is now hurtling to the solid ground and not a large pile of snow due to a mix of misfortune and timely removal and Rio is staring in amazement at his now fixed pompadour, how fortunes can suddenly change. Actually it is probably not a good idea for us to get into a discussion on fortunes as we have been sidetracked enough already, are you ready yet Chashkieh? Good ok come here. I know you're shy and slightly embarrassed but it's for a good cause, now get your butt over here.

Ok so what we are now going to do is we are going to have Chashkieh walk in front of Trey and Rio, Ok Chashkieh on you go. As you can see, or maybe not since you are reading Chashkieh does not look like Chashkieh the tour member anymore, not in the slightest. In fact Chashkieh is currently doing a very good impersonation of Anna Kyoyama, blond hair and black dress to boot. So what happens I hear you ask? Actually that is most likely not what I am hearing you all ask at the moment, it's just what I'm going to answer so there.

I feel as this experiment continues that I must point out that both Try and Rio are going to suffer temporary amnesia and so will have no idea who Anna Kyoyama actually is, otherwise this would turn out a lot differently, and by a lot differently I mean vodka and milk different.

Now to simulate amnesia using this small camping mallet… Ok, so we are ready and there goes Chas… err I mean Anna. Let us watch Trey and Rio.

As they have both entirely forgotten who Anna is for the time being their reactions are not going to be the usual ones of terror. Instead we now find both Trey and Rio with their jaws on the floor and giant love hearts in their eyes, oh dear. Now they are both running towards her… and now each of them has realised that the other is also running towards her… and now their fighting, honestly what's an author supposed to do? Perhaps we should have chosen Joco and Lyserg instead.

Right I think it's time we got Chashkieh come Anna out of there before one of those two actually wins the fight and we lose Chashkieh/Anna for good. Come to think of it I don't know what would be worse, the winner finding out that our current Anna is not as she appears, or finding the real Anna, who proceeds to reveal herself to be a holly terror and promptly kicks their butt into next week, at least it would cure the amnesia.

Ok so now that we have Chashkieh/Anna back with us, safe and sound, let us give them a round of applause. Now don't forget to put that dress back in the real Anna's room Chashkieh, the last thing I want is Anna knowing I've been in her wardrobe, if she found out it could well be the end of me and where would that leave us… well I'd be dead and my soul banished beyond this reality and Anna would be stuck in a cell with Morty for the rest of time, best if we just avoid the whole situation really.

Moving on we should probably now analyse exactly what happened to Trey and Rio when they saw what they thought was a very attractive girl. As we saw the sight of a beautiful girl sent both boys into a frenzy of raging hormones and things of the ilk. This then led to the age old act of two blokes fighting over a single girl and thus neither of them actually getting her.

So what's the point in all this? What does it tell us about the human condition? Well for one thing it tells us that both Trey and Rio think with their second head when they see a pretty girl; however this is not news to anyone. More importantly it shows us that a simple thing such as a drop of snow or the presence of a person can generate an emotional response from another, purely by just appearing, ok so in this case it was thirty tonne of snow but that's neither here nor there. Furthermore it also shows us that two people can have almost identical or completely different reactions to the same trigger. In fact the trigger that we are about to encounter is going to generate two entirely different responses from the two people whom it is going to affect, bloody hell there was a lot of to's and two's in that sentence.

It was about 8:00pm, or at least according to his watch it was 8:00pm, when one of the two men next returned to the cell room. Having not heard a sound since his last brief conversation with Anna, back when he had eaten his share of breakfast, Morty was slightly startled when he heard the door to the room slam against the wall.

Into the room stormed one of them, clearly he was not in a good mood. As he approached the bars Morty noticed that it was the one whom Anna had clobbered. He also didn't fail to notice the two small cardboard boxes he held in his left hand, apparently he had deemed them to have been good enough to deserve slightly more than just bread and water tonight, however no one had apparently told him that there was in fact less food in a Cheery Feast than in a loaf of bread.

As he dropped the two boxes through the bars the man didn't even acknowledge Morty as he quickly departed the room in the same manner as he had entered, the door once again being slammed to within an inch of its existence, which it was not far from losing giving its recent mistreatment.

Picking their dinner up off the floor Morty turned to face his companion, he was most certainly not relishing having to turn her attention onto him however he had little choice for the Itako had not touched any of her breakfast and would have to eat something sooner or later, and sooner was the better option.

"Hey Anna" the boy said as he sat down in front of her and placed the boxes between them. She didn't respond, instead she continued to stare straight ahead as though she was looking straight through him.

"He he um earth to Anna…" Morty continued, chuckling nervously. Still Anna failed to acknowledge him. As he began to open the boxes though, Anna suddenly shuddered as she was ripped from her pensive state.

At this point, as I am sure you have probably already guessed, the trigger in this instance is the food which has been given to Morty and Anna. Having not had anything to eat since earlier that day it should come as no surprise that Morty's reaction to the arrival of food was one of almost joy, mixed with a realisation that he was in fact starving. As for Anna, who has not eaten since the previous night, you might expect her to have a similar reaction once she finally realises that the food is there; actually you shouldn't expect that at all as I have already stated that the reactions of the two people involved would be entirely different.

Upon noticing the blondes sudden movement Morty paused in what he was doing.

"Hey Anna. It looks like they brought us more than just bread and water tonight. I hope they didn't get us the fish fingers; they never tasted anything like fish, actually come to think of it I don't know what they tasted like…" as he trailed off the young shaman failed to notice something rather important.

After a few moments, in which he managed to cover the taste of multiple different varieties of fast food, Morty finally looked up at his friend. As the smell engulfed her senses tears began to roll down Anna Kyoyama's cheeks.

"A…Anna" Morty stammered as he noticed that she was crying. He was now completely at a loss as to how he should deal with the situation, Anna crying was not something he was used to seeing; let alone having to handle by himself. Before he could decided on how he was going to actually decide what on earth to do the Itako finally spoke.

"Please…" she said in a soft, almost frail, voice. "Just get rid of it Morty." She finished in an almost whisper.

"Get rid of what?" Morty replied.

"The food" she replied, tears still pouring from her eyes. "Please... Either eat it or throw it to the other side of the room…just take it away from me…please."

"Why?" Morty asked, still none the wiser as to why she wanted him to dispose of their dinner. After a moments silence, in which the tears which were spilling form Anna's eyes began to subside slightly, she began to answer.

"Because…" she began, her voice somehow sounding even softer than before. "…Because it smells….horrible get rid of it" she eventually managed to say.

"The smell?" The blonde shaman responded, still completely clueless. "What does the smell have to do with anything?" He finished, realising that he might have to prise the answers out of the girl, using a crowbar if necessary. The only trouble was not that he couldn't use a crowbar, even though he had never had to before, but rather that he did not presently have said crowbar with which to pry. He would have to make do with verbal methods for now.

"Because the smell of cheese burgers reminds me of…" she replied the tears flowing freely once more. "…they remind me of Yoh." She finally finished, her voice practically broken now.

Morty looked at her almost dumbstruck. This was bad he thought as he promptly repacked the boxes. He had known Anna was not herself but he could never have imagined that she was in a state where something so simple as the smell of some cheese burgers would cause her to react like…well like this. He had to do something to try and help her otherwise he could risk losing the real Anna completely, and without her they were both doomed.

Picking up the boxes Morty moved as far away form the Itako as he could get. There was no point in trying to continue the brief conversation with her. The best thing he could do right now was to dispose of the offending smell that had triggered her current state.

Sitting down he opened the first box and quickly set about demolishing its contents, which didn't take long, seriously go buy a kids meal and you will soon see that they are designed with a child's appetite in mind, and a small child at that. In fact if we were to place the contents of a Cheery Feast on a set of scales we would probably find that the small plastic toy weighs more than the food does, fast food corporations sure know how to appeal to children, while screwing the adults over at the same time as the kids inevitably end up hungry again within the next hour. Moreover if the corporations are very lucky, which they normally are, the kids end up hungry again while the adults are still finishing their meals and so they end up having to buy them ice cream as well, which they struggle to finish and will soon end up regurgitating all over the back seats of the car leaving the adults to conclude that in future they should just eat at home.

As he stuffed the last of the fries into his mouth his gaze wandered to the second box that had been meant for Anna. He was still hungry and could easily eat its contents however it seemed rather unfair and besides he would have to get Anna to eat and drink something eventually. Although now that he thought about it she had told him to get rid of it which most definitely meant that she wouldn't touch it later, he would have better luck trying to get her to eat the bread from this morning.

Sighing, he opened the second box. Better eat it while it was still slightly warm he thought as he removed the paper from around the second burger, they tasted bad enough hot. As he began to eat Anna's dinner his mind returned to the blond girl and to how he could best help her. The truth of the mater was that he had absolutely no idea how to handle her like this; hell he doubted whether even Yoh himself would know what to do.

Taking a sip of his coke he continued to rack his brain for suggestions, surely something would come to him. When nothing did he began to panic. He was totally out of his depth here and not just because it was Anna he had to deal with. Leadership and pep talks had never been his strong points. He was the nerdy computer guy who answered questions when asked. If it couldn't be found in a book or on the internet he was practically clueless. Now he found himself in a situation where he somehow had to take charge and help Anna snap out of her current state of misery.

What was he to do? The Itako, though not her usual self, had still retained her stubbornness, which would make reaching her all the more difficult. Still, sitting here and thinking things over in a circular way was not helping him or Anna. He had to at least try and talk to her again and this time he had to try and stay strong and not run away if she decided to turn on him.

Getting to his feet, Morty stretched his limbs and turned to face his friend. However before he could take so much as a single step towards her, the sound of raised voices stopped him dead. It appeared that their captors were arguing, and it did not sound as though it was going to end with just words.

##

Sushi. A traditional Japanese dish consisting mainly of raw fish with either seaweed, rice or a multitude of other things. Personally I have never tasted proper sushi, only the rubbish you can buy in the supermarket, which consequently is actually not too bad so I can only deduce that the real thing is actually quite good.

Anyway I could probably go on and on about sushi, provided that I actually knew much about it, which I don't so I'm not going to, looks like you all get a reprieve, for now at any rate.

As he turned the corner Yoh could immediately tell which of the buildings on this road was En Tao's sushi restaurant, it was hard to miss considering the large neon sign shone the words "Tao's Sushi Bar" across the entire street, clearly this place was a relic of the 80's.

"Well that wasn't so hard" the brown haired shaman said, to no one in particular.

"It does not surprise me" Amidamaru responded. "We all know the Tao's have about as much subtlety as Mosuke's hammer." As he finished both he and his partner burst out laughing, Mosuke however did not look amused.

"There is nothing wrong with my hammer" he said defiantly, as though having his hammer compared to the Tao's was the worst insult that he had heard in his six hundred and odd years as both human and ghost.

"Oh lighten up Mosuke. Your hammer is the finest in both this world and the next and you have crafted some of the finest swords in existence with it." The samurai replied, seeing the look of annoyance on the blacksmiths face.

"Hmph. Well it is a pity my old friend that your wit and tongue are not as sharp as the sword I crafted for you." Mosuke retorted, still feeling slightly hurt.

"Ha ha ha. If only my friend." The samurai managed to say through fits of laughter, ghostly tears coming down his face as he did. Even Mosuke could not keep a straight face.

"Ok that's enough hilarity for now" Yoh struggled to say before bursting out in more laughter.

Five minuets past before the trio managed to regain their respective composures, pulling themselves together the shaman and two ghosts continued along the last few yards of their journey to En Tao's sushi bar, and hopefully an answer.

Reaching the entrance Yoh opened the door and walked in, followed by the two ghosts who did not so much as walk through the door but rather float through the wall, why do ghosts always have to show off, there is nothing wrong with a perfectly ordinary open door, unless of course there's a blizzard outside and the snow is building up inside your house, if interested in what that is like please direct all questions to Trey at 0845-SN-OW.

Anyway as the brown haired shaman entered the building he was greeted by a smiling waiter.

"Good evening sir" the waiter said in a well rehearsed manner. "Is it a table for one… or will someone else be joining you?" he continued.

"Actually I'm not here for dinner" Yoh replied, eager to skip the formalities and get to the point. "My name's Yoh Asakura. I was told to come here tonight by Tao Len."

"Ahh…" the waiter responded, now sounding rather nervous. He paused for a moment and then slowly looked Yoh up and down, his eyes lingering on the sword tip that was poking out of the boy's coat, a look appearing on his face that said all to plainly; please don't cause any trouble, not tonight, please. Eventually he found his voice again.

"Right this way sir." He said finally, motioning for Yoh to follow him.

"Thanks" The young shaman responded, catching the waiter slightly off guard with his politeness, clearly manners were not common among the sort of clientele Yoh represented tonight.

Opening a door to the left of the main restaurant entrance the waiter opened it then stopped.

"They will have to wait here as there is a strictly no ghost/spirit policy upstairs." He said, sounding quite serious now.

"Oh." Yoh said sounding surprised, clearly being caught off guard by the mans sudden reveal of a sixth sense. "Do you guys mind?" he asked of his companions as he turned to look at them.

"I do not like it lord Yoh but if we can not trust Lord Len then who can we trust? I am sure there is a good reason for this." Amidamaru said, looking the waiter up and down as he did as though trying to detect any hint of ill meaning towards his shaman. "Mosuke and I will wait here until you return" he finished, apparently satisfied with his appraisal of the waiter.

"If you are quite finished can we get on with this." The waiter interrupted, sounding rather impatient.

"Yeah sure" Yoh replied as he turned back towards the door and proceeded to follow the waiter.

As the door shut behind him the waiter led the young shaman up an old metal stairwell. As they reached the top of the second flight the waiter stopped in front of a door through which the stairs just appeared to disappear. Fumbling nervously in his pocket he withdrew an old and rusty iron key and inserted it into the doors lock, it turned with an unnaturally loud creak.

As the door swung open, the hinges creaking as it did, a voice from beyond it called out.

"Who the hell is it?" the voice almost shouted, in a rather flat no nonsense manner.

"It's the Asakura boy" the waiter responded as he quickly ushered Yoh inside. Once the boy was beyond its threshold the waiter quickly skirted behind him and hastily exited the room, closing the door behind him.

"Hi." Yoh said to the man who had spoken, he could not see where the voice had come from as the room was dimly lit. A grunt came from somewhere in the room. Before its originator could respond though a second voice cut him off.

"I'll handle this" Yoh heard a familiar voice say to the other man. "Good evening by the way, Yoh" the voice added. As it did a large screen flickered on somewhere in front of the brown shaman and on it Yoh could now see the face of the Tao shaman whose voice he had recognised.

"Evening Len" Yoh replied as he made his way across the room towards the screen.


	11. Chapter 11

**Authors note: **Ok so here it is chapter 11 and on time to boot. Now without wasting any more time thanks to Kovou, reviews are both welcome and appreciated and enjoy.

Oh and before I forget it is probably worth my mentioning that I am taking Yoh, Anna and Len to be age 16 and whatever age that would then make everyone else. Ok on with the chapter.

I** don't** own Shaman King.

**Chapter 11: Plans, Senses and Beer. **

Planning, strategy, tactics, forward thinking, foresight, call it what you will it all amounts to the same thing… or does it? For arguments sake let's just agree that they generally all amount to the same thing, I know there are probably subtle differences between each of the aforementioned thingy's but it will save us a lot of time and effort if we do this my way, lest we all be drawn into another circular argument, and we all remember how the last one turned out.

So what do any of these fine things have to do with us? Well actually nothing, unless of course you had the foresight to bring a cup of coffee with you to the computer, in which case well done as you are probably going to need it just to get through this… just kidding.

Anyway as I was saying the aforementioned list of stuff has absolutely nothing to do with us. It does have a lot to do with where we last left Yoh Asakura though. So with that in mind then I suppose we should at least make an attempt at establishing what exactly the items on this list amount to and why they are of importance, sound like fun? Does it hell, but we're going to do it anyway so for those of you who did not bring coffee with them now is you chance to go boil some or find a tin of crimson cow, you have been warned and you have exactly five minuets.

_Exactly five minuets later_

Right I hope everyone has caffeine'd up, if not too bad you were well warned. So let's get down to business then. Where should we start? I know let me fetch a die and I'll roll it, whichever number it lands on decides which of the list I start with, but I only listed five things didn't I so what should I do if it lands on a six? That would be an embuggerance now wouldn't it. I could just do what any normal person would do and re-roll, but where's the fun in that. If it lands on a six I'll discuss something totally unrelated for a bit. Now for those of you who did not take my previous warning seriously it looks like you get a second chance to find your way to the coffee pot as it will take me about six minuets to go to my room and find a die.

_Roughly fifteen minuets later_

Ok so that took slightly longer than expected, I did find a twenty sided die after only three minuets but I thought that would just get complicated and lead to an even larger amount of sidetracking than there will probably already be. Right so die in hand, it's red by the way, red with white numbers. Ok so here we go, drum roll if you please… and the first number is a four, why am I having a dragon ball Z moment here. So looks like forward thinking is up first, damn I was hopping it was going to be a six, oh well I still have four rolls left.

Forward thinking, what's it all about? Ask google and you will come up with explanations such as; thinking in a manner that takes the future into account, or progressive thinking, or you might find that it is also the name of a charity, seriously I'm not making that last one up go wiki it. So why is forward thinking important? Well without it we would probably end up making things a lot more complicated, or even disastrous, than they already are, for further information on lack of forward thinking see politician. To demonstrate the effect of forward thinking let us do another one of our little experiments. As with most of our experiments we are going to require two test subjects, person X and person Y get your butts over here… what do you mean your on strike… look I know for a fact that both of your contracts state that I can make you scrub toilets and electrocute you, why do I know that? Because I wrote your contracts and you signed them… I don't care whether or not it's inhumane, get your butts off that picket line and get over here... There is no way I am increasing your pay by that much… Fine stay there and don't get paid I'll find some other people.

Ok folks it looks like person X and Y are unavailable at the moment so we're going to use Lyserg and Joco instead, just bare with me a few minuets while I borrow Len's private jet so I can fetch them from their respective countries.

_Some time later_

Phew well that was a hassle, don't you just love customs, and I thought getting hold of Len's plane would be the difficult part, here's a warning to you all, never ever underestimate the bureaucracy of customs, fifteen different forms and two bribes it took me to get back here and what for, two slices of cheese and a half packet of mints, and yet the two struggling bodies in my suitcase got through no problem, go figure.

Right so now that Joco and Lyserg are finally with us let's get down to business shall we. Now what we have here is a rather simple set up consisting of a large table laden with food which is situated about twenty meters in front of a suitcase, the suitcase being the same one which I used to bring Joco and Lyserg here, they're both still inside by the way. What we are going to do is open the suitcase, using a hook on the end of a very long pole, retreat a safe distance into those set up camouflage bushes and consequently observe what they do next. Ready? Ok I'm letting them out now.

Ok so what we have now are two shamans who have just been let out of a suitcase. A suitcase in which they been trapped in for about twelve hours, or in Joco's case twenty four as I picked him up first. Naturally our two shaman are quite hungry so what better thing for them to see than a table laden with food. So what happens? Well Joco, who has not quite mastered the art of forward thinking, runs directly towards the table. Lyserg on the other hand, who has a bit more intellect, looks at the table of food and stops to think about the situation. What he comes up with is this; I've just been kidnapped, locked in a suitcase with Joco, flown half way across the world and then let out in front of a table full of food, something's not quite right here. At which point he looks up to see Joco fall down into a state of the art top of the range bear trap, complete with all the modern bear trap features earth, wood and a bear of course.

So while Joco is trying to reason with a bear as to why it shouldn't eat him, and Lyserg is standing looking down at him with an expression on his face which reads you're such an idiot, let us recap. Forward thinking is important. If you are incapable of it, then you end up in a bear trap, simple as that, next die role if you please. Ok looks like it's a three, your up next tactics, do us proud.

What can I say about tactics? Well for one thing if a certain French dictator had got his right at a very important and famous battle in history then I quite possibly wouldn't be typing this in English, se la vi. On the other hand if I hadn't got my tactics right while playing Demons Souls the other night my character would currently be lying in a pool of his own blood with a twenty foot sword in his back, that tower knight sure knows how to have a good time, unfortunately it is usually at my expense.

So tactics are important then. Mess them up and the consequences can be wide spread and very severe from your point of view, while on the flip side making some other people very happy. To illustrate just how important tactics are let us return to Lyserg and Joco and find out whose tactics will result in a favourable outcome.

When we last saw them, Lyserg was standing looking down on Joco, who was trying to avoid becoming dinner. Now let's imagine that Lyserg is not there, what happens? Well Joco is at that instant on his own with only his own skills to try and get him out of the, excuse the pun, hole he is in, and more importantly do so before he becomes bear food. So what does he do? Being the happy go lucky sort Joco tries to explain to the bear why it wouldn't be a good idea for it to eat him, even throwing in a couple of his jokes.

Fortunately for Joco the bear isn't so good with English and doesn't understand his jokes. Unfortunately for him the bear is a Muppets fan and does recognise the phrase whackawhacka and has strong feelings on plagiarism. Added to this the vastly important fact that Mister Bear isn't so good with English and thus can't understand anything else Joco has said to it we have a very precarious situation on our hands. Needless to say Joco's tactics in dealing with the bear aren't the best in the world and consequently he is about to be eaten, kind of ironic isn't it.

Ok so there you have it, a perfect example of bad tactics. Now let's return to reality where Lyserg is there. While Joco is busy babbling to the bear, Lyserg has come up with his own tactics for getting him out. A quick bit of spirit control later and Chloe is now in Lyserg's pendulum. Lyserg then sends said pendulum into the hole where it wraps itself around Joco, who is them promptly hoisted out of the hole. Joco then thanks Lyserg for the rescue and makes one of his supper bad jokes, needless to say had a certain Tao shaman been around this tactic would have landed him right back in the hole, quite possibly gift wrapped on a silver platter with an apple in his mouth and a note attached that would read; To the bear, happy birthday, from Len.

By a quick comparison it is a clear no-brainer as to which of the two shaman had the better tactics, unless of course we take it from the bear's point of view in which it is the opposite way round. From this we can conclude that getting your tactics right can literally be the difference between life and death.

Right so two down three to go, let us return to the master of all things, the all mighty die… Ok so it's a one, big deal, actually it is a big deal as it took me seven rolls to get it to land on something other than a three or a four. Either way planning is next so here we go.

Even the best made plans can go horribly wrong, just ask Alfred von Schlieffen about that one. So with that in mind one could be forgiven for thinking such thoughts as, sod the plans lets just wing it, and, who needs a plan when I have a sword on a stick and a Chinese warrior ghost in my back pocket. Now I must stress that there are circumstances in which that sort of attitude does in fact work, most of them involve time though, or more accurately lack of it. Generally speaking though if you do happen to have time then you generally get on better if you have some sort of plan, I say some sort of plan as there are different sizes of plan, varying form the one made on the back of a beer mat in some pub last night, to one that has taken years to concoct and develop and subsequently requires an entire warehouse just to hold the paperwork.

The problem with plans is, as previously mentioned, they can go tit's up in a heartbeat. So what is the solution to this? To be honest there isn't one. Inevitable something will always go wrong in a plan; it's almost part of their definition. The best thing that can be done with regards to this is to keep the plan relatively short and allow as much room for movement by the participants as is possible, because at the end of the day it is the people that carry out the plans that matter. To try and make some sense of all this let's see what Joco and Lyserg are up to now.

Having gotten Joco out of the bear trap, and resisted the temptation to put him back, Lyserg is now busy planning their next move. Joco is also planning their next move, what's the chance of the two plans having any similarity? After a few minuets the two shaman get together to discus their respective plans and decide who has the better idea.

Lyserg's plan is relatively simple. They will use his dousing ability to find the nearest settlement from which they should be able to find out where they are and figure out a way to get back to their respective homes. Joco also has a simple plan, help the bear out of the hole, distract it with the food on the table, then jump on it's back and have it carry them to wherever the nearest settlement is, using the remainder of the food on the end of a stick as an incentive for the bear to carry them.

Now one of these plans sounds quite well thought out and sensible while the other sounds like it was made by someone who has a grudge against a bear. To be fair to Joco his plan does have its merits as it would save them a lot of walking. However they have neither the skills nor the equipment to carry said plan out, looks like they'll be going with Lyserg's plan.

Our two shaman now set out following Lyserg's pendulum. At some point along the way they encounter a situation in which having a bear with them would have been advantageous, perhaps they should have given more consideration to Joco's plan. Never the less, due to the simplicity and dynamic nature of Lyserg's plan, they manage to avoid the situation by simply changing direction.

So from this we can deduce that no one plan is perfect, but if it is flexible enough it can be altered to accommodate any hiccups that can occur. What we can also take from this is that a good or bad plan can be made to work simply by the skills of the people that carry it out. For example Joco's seemingly bad plan could have been made to work had they had the right personnel and equipment. It would then have been the better of the two plans as it would have avoided a massive detour which occurred due to Lyserg's plan. On the flip side had we used Lyserg's plan but replaced him with Faust VIII then the plan would have been an utter failure as there would have been no dousing expert to guide them conversely they wouldn't have suffered sun stroke but oh well you cant have things both ways.

Ok is everyone still with me? I told you that you would want that coffee, anyone regretting not getting one? Right so while you were reading that last bit I've already taken the liberty of rolling the die and it landed on a two, looks like you only have to survive one more roll, why do these things always come down to the last throw of the die, oh well I still have one last chance to get a six, come on strategy put down that vodka Martini it's your turn.

Right so strategy what can I say about you… Actually I'm not going to say anything about you. Instead I'm going to let Mikihisa take this one. Everyone go watch the way of the rice and come back, that should about cover it, next die roll.

Ok so after five rolls of the dice it all comes down to this, did the last roll yield a five or a six? Ok so it was a five, was there ever any doubt, the good guys always win in these situations… but don't get complacent you haven't seen the last of me and my games of chance, I'll be back and next time it'll be a deck of cards I use instead, and I know more card tricks than Joco knows bad jokes. So here we go last on the list number five, foresight.

What is foresight? Well if you didn't know before you started reading this chapter you probably figured it out at the point where I last mentioned it. For everyone else, foresight is the ability to predict, with a certain degree of accuracy, what is about to happen, based on information which you already have. For example anyone who looked at the size of this chapter before they started to read it may have had the foresight to go and fetch some coffee. Another example would be if you were walking through an old tomb and noticed a pile of skeletons on the floor where there was a lot of holes, foresight would them lead you to predict that if you stepped onto the floor beside the skeletons then you would soon be joining them.

Now at this point it is probably best if we return to Lyserg and Joco as they are about to find themselves in a spot of bother, one which foresight will play a major role in alleviating.

After having had to take a massive detour to avoid the last problem they had encountered, Joco and Lyserg are now both very tired and very hungry, it is also getting quite dark and the sound of wolves howling in the distance can be heard. From this we could all be forgiven for thinking that they should just give up and wait for the wolves to arrive. Help is at hand however, in the form of our friend foresight. Being rather closed minded at times, Lyserg did not have the foresight to see that his plan may go awry and that they would not make it to civilisation before nightfall. Joco on the other hand, who was previously thinking with his stomach, had the foresight to bring some of the food from the table with him.

So foresight has saved Lyserg and Joco as now they will be able to eat and, more importantly have the strength to fight off the wolves when they eventually get there. Or it would have saved them had I not poisoned the food before hand for use in an alternative experiment. Looks like we had better go and stop them before both they, and the wolves, get poisoned. Fortunately I had the foresight to see this eventuality and brought both the suitcase and a tranquilizer gun with me, I also have a jeep on the way to take us to the airport.

Ok so that just about wraps it up. As we can see foresight can be a very useful tool in avoiding potential disasters. Now let me go and return Joco and Lyserg, and then we can tie all this up and get to the point of the matter.

_An undisclosed amount of time later_

Right so now that Joco and Lyserg are back where they belong and will probably sleep for a while thanks to the tranquilisers we can move on with the story. As you should all remember, the reason for Yoh Asakura being in the upstairs part of a sushi bar is that Len Tao has a plan. He has come up with a strategy. He has decided on some tactics. He has thought of things in a progressive way. He has even had some foresight. Basically he has actually put his skills to some sort of use, other than smashing stuff, all that rice training sure had an effect on him.

Yoh stared at his friend, or rather at his image, as he made his way across the room so he could stand in front of the large screen. Trust Len to have projected himself onto a screen that made him look larger than life, literally. The brown haired shaman stopped a couple of meters back from the screen and considered tilting his head slightly. At this rate the Tao shaman would end up learning how to do En's massive over soul trick. Only knowing Len the Tao's would probably have to end up adding an extension onto the house just to accommodate it, and a large extension at that.

"Ok Len let's cut to the chase" Yoh said, almost sounding impatient, which was a rare thing for the normally laid back shaman. "I've waited and now I want to Know, What did you find out from your father yesterday?" He finished, trying to leave as little room for Len to manoeuvre in as possible, he wanted answers and he wanted them now.

"Fair enough Yoh" the Tao shaman responded, slightly taken aback by his best friend's attitude. "There is a brothel on the other side of the city. Like I said yesterday there is very little chance of you actually finding Anna and Morty there, however you should be able to…" he paused for a moment, searching for the right word "…acquire, the location of their headquarters."

"Good. Give me the address and I'll be on my way" Yoh replied, not wishing to waste any more time than he already had.

"Not so fast Yoh." Len said, sensing that the boy had every intention of just walking out the door as soon as he had an address; clearly he hadn't been paying close enough attention the previous night.

"Just tell me where to go Len" Yoh retorted, clearly unhappy with the pointy haired shaman's response.

"Ok have it your way…" Len began, realising that he would have to make his point quickly. "…Only answer me this first, How do you intend to get there?"

"Stop wasting my time Len and tell me." The Japanese shaman said, his voice becoming louder with each response he gave.

"Answer the question Yoh." Len replied, becoming slightly impatient himself, he was doing this for his friends own good after all.

"On foot" Yoh replied, the annoyance now evident in his tone.

"So you intend to walk to the other side of the city do you?" Len said, the smugness creeping back into his tone. "You're good Yoh, but even for you it would take half the night to get there on foot."

"So? If it takes me half the night it takes me half the night." Yoh replied flatly. Slightly annoyed, but at the same time amused, that he would have to press the futileness of the matter further Len continued.

"Ok so you run to the other side of the city, how good is your geography Yoh? Hmm." Len said, the smugness most definitely back in his voice now. "Last time I checked you thought that Uruguay was in Europe."

"I'll find a map" Yoh said after a slight pause, perhaps the reality of the situation was starting to dawn on him.

"Ok good answer. So you find a map, and then run across the city. What do you do when you get there?"

"Umm… I'll think of that when I get there" the brown haired shaman replied as reality finally decided to pay him a visit.

"Yes. Yes you will. And you'll come up with the exact same thing that you came up with last night. Which, need I remind you, involved you running in there with that double medium of yours and cutting people to bits, bits I say and need I also remind you where that will get you?" Len said, a look spreading across this face which clearly read checkmate.

Yoh sighed, he was beaten and it was probably a good thing. Len had just described exactly what he would have done and now that he was being made to think about it… well lets just say it sounded down right stupid, and that was putting it nicely.

"I'm sorry Len" he began, sounding genuinely sincere. "I sound as though I didn't even bother to listen to you last night. I'm just worried that if I delay any longer that I'll…" Sensing where his friend was heading Len decided to cut him off.

"That will not happen Yoh, I promise you. Now let's move on with things before I begin to sound even more like Faust when he's trying to give Morty his medicine." At this they both laughed.

"He never does take it willingly does he?" Yoh replied, returning to a calmer state.

"No he doesn't, and with good reason too. Would you want to take any medicine that Faust prescribes?" Len responded.

"To be honest I don't get a choice. All he has to do is tell Anna that it's for my own good and well… you can guess how it goes from there." The Japanese shaman said, almost managing to get through the sentence without feeling the slight pang of guilt he had become accustomed to whenever Anna was mentioned.

"Yes well fortunately for me I don't have to submit myself to that…" he paused, as though searching for some way to describe Faust and everything that he was. "…that accursed necromancer and his medical fetish." He eventually settled for.

"He IS an actual doctor Len. He can't help being passionate about his work." Yoh replied, unsure whether he should be defending Faust's fixation.

"There is passion, then there is obsession then mania and then there is Faust. Honestly the man is insane…" he paused as a thought came to him. "...come to think of it hasn't he been giving Morty more medicine than normal, more than normal for Faust that is?" Len asked, slightly curious as to what the German doctor might be up to this time.

"Now that I think about it he has whisked Morty off more frequently than normal." Yoh replied as he pondered the matter. "Who knows what he's up to this time. I wouldn't be surprised if he was doing some crazy assed experiment to each of us that we don't know about. He's probably got a set of watches on his wrist and arm which provide him with a twenty four hour read-out of all of our vitals." Yoh laughed as he finished, even though he was probably correct.

"Do not joke about that sort of thing. You're going to have me paranoid whenever I'm around him now." Len responded with a shudder not in the slightest bit amused.

"Aren't you always paranoid when you're around Faust anyway?" the brown haired shaman asked still chuckling to himself.

"No." Len Glared " I am not and it is beside the point. Anyway we have far more important things to discuss than whether or not Faust knows if our heart rate is increasing twenty four seven." The Tao shaman replied defiantly.

Yoh couldn't help himself the look of horror and the sideways glances Len was giving whatever room he was in; as if making sure he was really alone, made him laugh. This caused the Tao heir to stare incredulously while Yoh regained control of himself.

"Your right Len." He said, the last notes of his laughter dying. "Where do I go, how do I get there and what do I do once I'm there?" He asked, now eager to get back to the matter at hand.

"Of course I'm right." Len began; glad to be rid of the subject of Faust and sorry he had ever brought it up. He cast one last look behind him then smirked slightly "Now first things first, have you ever ridden a motor bike?"

##

Criminals. I told you we would return to this particular old chestnut didn't I. Cast your minds back to our previous discussion of them and you should remember that I mentioned something about them having a class structure. At the time the nature of this class structure was irrelevant and so I politely ignored it, but guess what, now it is relevant and so it requires attention.

Your basic criminal class structure goes something like this. On the very bottom of this ladder are the group that are often referred to as cloth heads. We have in fact already heard this terminology used previously, however it was in fact used incorrectly. A cloth head is simply a criminal with about as much brain cells as a stuffed cat, indeed this statement is not actually far off the mark as this class of criminal usually don't last too long. Primarily this type of criminal are used as cannon fodder as anything beyond take this stick and hit something, is lost on them.

The second rung of the ladder contains what are known as the bone heads. Now the bone heads often get confused with the cloth heads as neither have a brain, as far as we are currently aware, we could be wrong on this matter but I doubt it. There is however a difference, and an important one at that. Instead of only understanding take this stick and hit something, bone heads can understand slightly more, unfortunately this is generally limited to take this stick and hit this person.

After the bone heads are the slightly more intellectual meat heads, named after the lump of meat which is known to exist in the space between their ears.

Whether this is actual brain matter or not is currently unknown, the market was flooded with a large amount of ersatz brains after that Steve Martin film. Regardless the presence of this matter does allow the meat heads the ability to comprehend things beyond simply smashing stuff, not much more mind, perhaps enough to fill a teacup, only a small one though.

At this point it is probably apt to mention a special subclass of meat heads called drivers. Drivers are effectively just meat heads who are entrusted with being able to transport goods and people without getting caught, think of them as the taxi drivers of the criminal underworld. In case you are wondering why this comparison is being made I will elaborate. Basically, like taxi drivers, criminal drivers are the worst drivers in the world. However both have an excellent knowledge of local road layouts. This comes in exceptionally handy when you are trying to catch or evade someone. It should then come as know surprise, like Mr Ishida so astutely pointed out, that drivers are in high demand and short supply, perhaps this is due to taxi drivers being better paid…or because of the high mortality rate associated with the job, perhaps they should actually be taught how to drive.

Beyond the meat heads are the gear heads. Now gear heads come in multiple different types. These include the safe cracker, the computer guy, the explosives man and the locksmith person. As their names imply each have a specific job which they are specifically trained for. As a general rule gear heads are clever and extremely intelligent when it comes to there specific field. The only problem is that they have absolutely no common sense and thus generally don't realise that once they have done there job they are most likely to be bumped of, serves them right for demanding such high payment for what they do.

At the top of the criminal ladder are the hierarchy. Now the hierarchy are effectively another ladder entirely, the details of which we shall not discus here. For now let's just accept that the hierarchy are the criminals who make the plans and control the underworld, think of them as the politicians of the criminal world, only more trustworthy.

Of the criminals we have already met three of the six are bone heads. Those three being Chao and the two men who accompanied Mr Ishida. Of the other three one is clearly a driver and one a member of the hierarchy. That just leaves one of the six, Zhang. This is where our ladder breaks down as there is know room for criminals like Zhang. In an ideal world people like Zhang would not be part of any criminal organisation. For the simple reason that their brains function too well for them to be meat heads but not enough for them to be either gear heads or part of the hierarchy. This inevitably presents a problem as they generally have enough savvy to see what is going on in a situation, only to think that they can control said situation and turn it to their advantage, and then bugger it up. Seriously, these are the guys in films that always cause the bad guys plans to unravel, and we wonder why the good guys always win.

So where does this leave us? Well that depends on what side you are rooting for. If you are supporting the good guys then this could very well be a glimmer of hope for you all. If on the other hand you want to see the bad guys win then… well let's just say the phrase shit creek and 'where did we leave that paddle?' may become apt.

Zhang was annoyed, again. In fact it would be fair to say that he had been annoyed since the beginning of this whole escapade and that this new phase of annoyance was just a continuation of the previous one, which was a continuation from the one before that, going all the way back to when he was clobbered by Anna. Either way, regardless of the nature of the annoyance, he was annoyed.

At this point I guess we now have to go on a long spiritual journey involving water spirits and dark tunnels in order to find out what Zhang is annoyed about… or alternatively we could just go and observe Zhang's current thought process, which sounds like a better idea to me.

So Zhang was annoyed, nothing new there then. This time it was his companion that was the source of said annoyance, unless of course we go back to the root of the problem in which case Mr Ishida is the instigator, but he isn't here at the moment so it is unfair to lay the blame at his well polished shoes, and they are very well polished indeed.

The fact that it was his comrade who had caused his current state of annoyance had also created a problem. A problem that could only be solved by him removing him self from the premises, which would explain why we are currently outside in a random street waiting for the clouds support act to get off the stage and for the real show to begin, seriously if I have to get wet you all have to get wet too, now who stole the umbrella that I stole from that girl in the burger bar… I might have known that it would have been you Mr Johansson now give it back and go steal someone else's property, and not Len's this time either… or Faust's for that matter, last thing I want is that creepy necromancer turning up looking for his hat and rain coat.

Ok so yeah, we're now outside in a back ally waiting for the rain, did I forget to mention that Zhang is walking aimlessly and hasn't bothered to look at the sky. To be fair the weather conditions tend to be the last thing on a persons mind when they are contemplating murder. Seriously, at this point in time Zhang was contemplating murder, and not the, I'm going to kill you because you ate my pudding, kind of murder but the very real act of killing someone, for as Joseph Stalin once said, Death solves all problems, no man no problem. And this was exactly the attitude that Zhang was close to taking in his annoyed state.

No man no problem Zhang thought as he exited the dark ally onto yet another empty street. It wasn't as though he disliked his associate enough to kill him it was just… it was just that he was being stupid, in that the opportunity they had been presented with was too good to pass up without even at least considering it for what it was. And it was a lot of things. Most of which involved multiple monetary value signs.

Yes. Mr Ishida had been quite clever with his words, as always. It had taken Zhang a while to figure out exactly what he had said but when he did it was like playing the seven of diamonds in a game of switch, in other words it changed the game entirely. In fact they had now went from playing checkers to playing chess, and Zhang new all the rules to chess, shame that when it came down to playing it he wasn't very good, and even more of a shame that he didn't actually realise this.

As for the opportunity itself Zhang had taken only a few moments to realise its potential and decide that it was worth the risk, of which there was actually very little. The boss had entrusted them with transferring the merchandise and looking after the prisoners while they did so. He also trusted them enough to not bother checking up on them every hour. Hell he hadn't even bothered to demand so much as a picture of the captives let alone send someone round to check up on them. No, he and Chao had been left to baby-sit without interruption, and that was not likely to change for they were short of bodies as it was without sending one all the way out here for practically nothing.

Besides they were being well paid for sitting on their backsides, the only problem was that the boss had never met Mr Ishida, which Zhang was sure was a ploy on Ishida's part, and was blissfully unaware that the man would present such a better paying opportunity to them.

This was what was now annoying Zhang and leading him to contemplate murder. When he had broached the subject with Chao he had not got the reaction that he had expected. Instead of jumping at the chance Chao had refused to entertain the matter on the grounds that it was too risky and that it was going against the boss's orders.

As the words of the once Russian dictator echoed through his mind Zhang was now seriously considering killing his partner, the only problem was that he would then be left to handle matters on his own and that would leave him vulnerable. He would have to separate the girl from the boy by himself, break her on his own, then conduct the deal by himself where it would be all to easy for a bullet to find its way into his back when it was turned.

Perhaps old Joseph's method wasn't such a good idea after all. That only left him with one option; he would have to find some way of convincing Chao that this was far too good an opportunity to pass up.

Trudging along yet another road Zhang caught sight of the neon sigh above the door of a bar, beside which sat a convenience store that had a smaller non-neon sigh above its door. Well that was convenient he thought as an idea suddenly came to him, beer was always a good way to start a conversation with Chao, in more ways than one. As a wicked smile formed on his face the Chinese man walked towards the convenience store, with any luck they would have a crate of Chao's favourite beer.

##

"…Well I once rode on the back of Rio's bike whilst unconscious, does that count?" Yoh said a look of puzzlement spreading across his face.

"No it does not." Len said, sounding rather unimpressed with his friend's grasp of the question. "And when did you ride on the back of Rio's motorbike unconscious?" he finished.

"Umm…" Yoh began, not quite believing that Len could forget that particular encounter. "…It was at the point when you were about to do me in. I don't really know the details myself as you had already knocked me out. Heh Heh." He laughed slightly as he remembered the days when the Tao shaman wanted to see his guts plastered across the ground, how things had changed.

"Ahh…" Len said, slightly caught off guard at the sharp reminder of what he had once done. "…Yes well I suppose we can give you some points for that…" he continued, he did not like being reminded that he had once wanted to kill his best friend, and had almost succeeded, perhaps he should send Rio a thank you basket, anonymously of course.

"Anyway I already made the assumption that you hadn't and so got an automatic one for you." Len continued, intending to get the conversation back on track and away from his troubled past.

"What do you mean you got me an automatic one?" The brown haired shaman asked, sounding confused. "And besides Anna wouldn't let me get a licence so I can't ride one. And why do I need one in the first place, I have perfectly good legs." He finished, starting to get slightly impatient again.

"Ok before you decide to start shouting again let me explain." Len began, fully intending to diffuse yet another bomb before Yoh even began the countdown. "Firstly, since you have never ridden a motorbike before, it will be much easier for you to ride an automatic. Plus with the added sidecar you should be able to get to grips with it in a few hours, and before you ask the sidecar is required as there is going to be three of you coming back and you can't all fit on the back. Which brings me to my second point." He paused for a moment, trying to think of how he could best put what he was about to say next. "From what I have been able to find out about this group there is a chance that either Morty or Anna or both will be in no state to walk any sort of distance beyond a couple of hundred meters. Hence if you have the bike you will be able to get them away from their captors with greater ease. And speaking of distance you may have to cover a lot of it before you find them so it will be in everyone's interest that you don't tire yourself out with pointless walking."

As his friend finished realisation suddenly dawned on Yoh. In his haste to try and save his friends he had completely ignored the logistics of the problem. How could he have been so stupid to think that he would just be able to walk away with Anna and Morty in toe, and that was if he even managed to get to them in the first place. The magnitude of the task he was about to undertake finally hit him and he was now very glad that Len had not been so blind.

Which, come to think of it, was a bit of a surprise as the Tao shaman had always been the definition of the phrase kwando first ask questions later, perhaps his fathers rice training had had a more profound effect on Len than anyone, including Mikihisa, had realised, perhaps a fruit basket for his father was in order once all this was over.

"Ok that's all well and good but how can you be so sure that I'll be able to just ride out of here without having ever done it before? And what if I get caught riding around on a motorbike without a licence?" Yoh eventually asked, unintentionally trying to find flaw in his friend's logic.

"I have already dealt with that particular legal issue by having a rather good fake licence made for you. Not that you will need it. I have a feeling that by the time you step on that bike you'll be able to ride like a pro and give no reason for the law enforcement to stop you." The Tao shaman replied, yet another smug grin spreading across the digital representation of his face.

"Ok now you've lost me." Yoh said, a look of bewilderment spreading across his face. "How can I possibly learn how to ride a motorbike between now and when I leave here?" He asked, all the while thinking that even for Len this was going a bit too far.

"Just because this is not a shaman fight you're going into does not mean that you can't use your shamanic abilities to your advantage." Len began, looking even smugger now, if that was even possible. "Yoh meet Mr Waters."

##

Senses. We all have them and we all need them, otherwise we would never get anywhere in life. As you are probably all aware a normal human has five senses, hearing, sight, smell, taste and touch. If you are like me then only four of those five senses work. In my case it is my sense of smell that is missing presumed gone, or rather presumed never to have been there in the first place. This isn't necessarily a bad thing as it comes in handy when someone lets one off, seriously had it been me at the table when Trey had let one off I would have just sat there and criticized him for not being loud enough. On the flip side however it can be a bit of an embuggerance as apparently I lose half of the enjoyment that you get from food, and I like food a lot so that's a lot of enjoyment I am potentially missing out on, also I will most likely die due to turning on a light switch when there has been a gas leak.

Moving on from the five normal senses some people have what is most commonly known as a sixth sense. Now at this point I am not going to waste your time, or mine for that matter, by explaining what the sixth sense is supposed to be as If you have been reading a Shaman King fanfict without knowing what it is then I will begin to worry about you.

What is important though is an effect known as sensory deprivation. Now this effect is rather curious in that a person who experiences it for a prolonged period of time can actually begin to wonder whether or not the sense that they have been deprived of ever existed in the first place. Furthermore it can also lead to the heightening of a person's other senses. This effect is exactly what Anna Kyoyama had been undergoing for the past thirty plus hours.

Anna sat on the cold stone floor with her back to the wall, much in the same way as she had the last time we saw her, in fact she hadn't moved since the last time we saw her. She was cold, and she felt truly alone, even though Morty was only a few feet away. Being cold was something that she could put up with but the overwhelming sense of loneliness was slowly eating her for the inside and it was beginning to get the better of her.

The only time she had ever felt so alone before was during the brief period in which Zeke had absorbed Yoh and she could no longer sense him, and that had almost killed her. Yoh, the one thing that kept her going, the thing that she lived for the most, the person who, even if he was nowhere in sight, she could always sense, only now she couldn't.

The spiritual dead zone that she was currently in had completely robbed her of the use of her sixth sense and with it her one hope. Regardless of where they were in relation to each other she had always been able to sense him, save the aforementioned incident with Zeke, but now she had no idea if he was even alive, let alone whether or not he had found some way of finding her, and that made her feel more alone than ever, at least with the whole Zeke incident she knew where he was.

As she tried to focus on her breathing thoughts of Yoh and her current predicament refused to leave her alone. In this situation she was effectively collateral damage, she had figured that much out from the revelation that Morty had been the one they had been after. That meant that she was expendable and that her chances of getting out alive were low. These thoughts then made her feel worse as she remembered that the last thing she had ever said to Yoh was through Morty and that it had involved him losing his butt at her hands.

Had she had any tears left in her she probably would have cried them at this point. Without her sixth sense she was completely helpless and alone, even Morty was handling the situation better than she was. The loss of it had also led to her other senses becoming heightened and vulnerable to assault, which had come in the form of some fast food. Yes, even something as simple as the smell of cheeseburgers and fries had been enough to overpower her and reduce her to tears. It had just reminded her so much of Yoh and unbidden her senses had reached out to him to the warm cozy place his aura normally resided deep in her heart and she had found….nothing. Just an empty hole with the cold of the stone at her back, the pain from the taser in her chest and the mocking smell of Yoh's favourite food stinging her eyes and nose. Even her tongue had gone dry and yet unable to escape from the nothingness now that she was so acutely ware of it she couldn't bring herself to move to find a drink. Her focus slipped from her breathing yet again.

It was getting harder. Ever since the arrival of what was supposed to be her and Morty's dinner she had been unable to return her focus to her breathing, something that hadn't been an issue beforehand. Now she couldn't get Yoh off her mind and it was making her feel worse about the whole situation.

Trying to force all thoughts of the happy go lucky shaman out of her mind a horrible thought occurred to the blond Itako. If she didn't manage to pull herself together then it wouldn't matter if she was taken away from this place or not as she would not have the strength, both mental and physical, to summon her Shikigamis.

Before she could contemplate this further the sound of voices filled her ears and she could make out the distinct noise of a door creaking open. That could mean only one thing; her captors had decided to grace her and Morty with their presence.

##

Yoh jumped, as though he had seen a ghost, which he actually had as a ghost suddenly materialised beside him, you would think that he would have gotten used to them by now.

"Who is this guy Len, Sam Fisher?" He asked as he looked at the tall ghost, who was dressed in a black jumpsuit with a black mask and pair of night-vision goggles over his eyes.

"No Yoh he's solid snake, can't you tell?" Len replied as he shook his head. "Honestly you would think that you had never seen a ghost before let alone have one joined with you. And besides this man is real, or at least he was before he died, now he serves the Tao family, like he did in life." He finished, still looking bemused.

"Ok so what's he doing here" The brown haired shaman asked, looking confused yet again, this was happening to him to much tonight he thought.

"Mr Waters here is the item that we had to wait for being delivered, we're not all as fortunate as to have an Itako on hand to summon ghosts for us whenever we want them." Realizing what he had just said Len decided to move on hurriedly. "Basically after a quick bit of spirit unity you will be able to ride a motorbike like a pro and that's just for starters." He finished, hoping that Yoh hadn't picked up on what he had said about having an Itako on hand, fortunately he hadn't.

"What do you mean for starters?" The Japanese shaman asked quizzically.

"In life Mr Waters was a man of multiple talents, most partaken to a specific profession. In short he was an assassin and a good one at that. And before you ask how he died it was a car accident. Anyway he is an expert at infiltrating places undetected, a skill that neither you nor Amidamaru posses. Come to think of it where is Amidamaru?" Len replied.

"Oh the guy at the door told me I had to leave him and Mosuke downstairs, something about preventing trouble from happening." Yoh said in an offhanded manner, eager to get on with the conversation as he was beginning to see Len's plan coming together.

"Of course, I forgot to tell him to let them come up with you, sorry about that. Normally when people are escorted to this part of the building some sort of trouble breaks out. Having an all ghosts left at the door policy reduces the damage." The Tao shaman replied, chuckling slightly as he did. "Anyway moving on, the idea is that you unity with Mr Waters here and the two of you sneak in, get the information you require and get out again without getting seen by anyone. Which, to be honest, we probably need. If they get even the slightest inclination that you're looking for them, Anna and Morty will probably be moved and that will cause us even more problems than we already have." He sounded quite serious as he finished.

Yoh thought for a moment before he replied. Len really had thought this through; perhaps he should send two baskets of fruit to his father instead of just one.

"Ok so where am I going?" Yoh asked intently.

"The brothel is on the upper west side district." Seeing the blank look on his friend's face Len continued. "It's on the other side of the city but don't worry. I'll be in radio contact with you every step of the way so you won't have to worry about memorizing a set of directions as I'll be navigating for you. Once you get there I'll explain how you get in. Now go back down stairs and tell the matraď to show you to the garage. There you will find a set of equipment, all of which Mr Waters is familiar with, that may prove useful. The bike is also there with a full tank of petrol. When you are ready to leave ask the matraď to open the door for you." He paused for a moment as though not quite sure what to say. Eventually he settled for. "Good luck Yoh. Speak to you when you get downstairs."

"Thanks Len. Thanks for everything. I don't know what I would have done without you." Yoh replied as he prepared to head for the door.

"It's probably best not to think about that. Now get going and don't forget Mr Waters, he has been instructed to follow your orders to the letter." The Tao shaman responded with a golden eyed stare at the ghost as if demanding he should even attempt to deny it. When no response was forthcoming he considered the conversation to be over, for now at least.

"Don't worry I wont" Yoh replied, realising that he had been about to walk out of the room without the assassin ghost. "Umm ok… uhh follow me" Yoh said to the ghost.

"As you wish Master Yoh" the ghost of the assassin replied in a rather cold monotone, which sent a shiver down the young shamans spine.

Ghost in toe Yoh made his way back towards the door and opened it in one fluid movement. As he was about to step through it a voice grunted at him.

"Close it behind you" the man said as Yoh almost jumped, he had completely forgotten that there had been someone else in the room with him the whole time.

Walking through it Yoh did what he was told and closed the door behind him before making his way back down the stairs.

##

Beer. The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems, or at least according to a pair of slippers I once had. As it turns out this statement is actually somewhat accurate, or at least in this case it will be. For Zhang, beer will turn out to be the solution to his current problem, while for Anna and Morty beer is going to be the cause their next problem, and by a happy coincidence, or an unhappy one if your Anna or Morty, the same beer is going to cause both.

It was about ten o'clock when Zhang returned to the safe house with his beer and his plan. As he walked down the stairs into the basement he went over it one more time in his head, the plan of course not the beer as there really wasn't much to that other than water, hops, barley and yeast. Reaching the door to the middle room his hand froze as it came into contact with the cold metal of the handle.

This was it he thought. If he failed to convince Chao here then he would not only lose the best chance of his life he would probably lose his life as well, for Chao would undoubtedly tell their boss, who would most definitely not take too kindly to this kind of treachery. Although if that turned out to be the case he might as well do away with Chao and attempt to do the thing by himself. In fact he would probably have more chance of Ishida being an honest man than his boss not having him killed. To be fair he had nothing to lose as his life wasn't worth much to him at the moment, not since the incident with his partner and the boss. No this was his best bet to turn things around and start afresh. Gripping the handle tightly he turned it and opened the door.

In the room sat Chao, as he expected. The man was sitting in the sole armchair, which he had turned to face the window between the rooms. As Zhang shut the door behind him Chao grunted. Was that an acknowledgement? Zhang thought as he placed the crate of beer on the table and slumped onto the moth eaten sofa. This was always going to be the difficult part. Chao had been outright angry with him after their last conversation. Better to start with an apology and admittance to his foolishness, even if it was only a charade and a means to get the man to talk to him.

"Look I'm sorry for earlier" he began, managing to sound genuine. "It was stupid of me to think anything of what Ishida said… It's just that I've not been myself lately and I've been looking for any way out of here. You know what Ishida's like…all tempting and polite articulation. I guess I kinda let him get to me… so yeah." he fidgeted with his hands as though unsure what else to say Embarrassed clearly. He settled on. "I brought a crate of beer. It's your favourite." As he finished talking he patted the top of the beer box with his right hand, as though the ringing sound of his hand on the cans would help his case.

There was silence for a minuet as he waited for his partner to answer him. At first Zhang thought that even the temptation of beer might not be enough to mend the bridge between them however the silence was eventually broken when Chao spoke.

"Well you had better put that in the fridge unless you intend to drink more than the first can warm." The Chinese man replied in a long suffering tone as he stood up and turned the chair back to its original position.

Zhang smiled to himself as he cracked open the crate. He had been hoping for a reply such as the one he had gotten. Chao wasn't one for accepting apologies with words. Instead he preferred to skip the whole conversation and move on with things, especially if there was beer involved, for he liked beer and not just for its alcoholic properties either. In fact it was exactly this point on which Zhang hoped to gain his friends cooperation. Passing a tin over to his comrade and then removing a second for himself Zhang stood up and made his way to the fridge.

Opening the door of the rather dirty looking device he placed the entire crate, packaging and all beside a furry blue lump that might have been lunch once but now resembled the first stages of sentient life and shut the door, before returning to his seat and opening his own tin.

Now at this point I could go on and explain in detail the entire conversation that was about to ensue between the two Chinese men. I could take time to elaborate on how Chao drank his next three, cold, tins of beer and had a game of dares in which he nibbled on the blue furry life form from the fridge. I could even describe how Zhang had managed to avoid drinking more than a single tin of his share thus far. Which would involve him tossing half of the first tin into the bin on the grounds that it was to warm for him to enjoy, how he had emptied the second down the sink while Chao fled to the bathroom as apparently the furry blue lump had its revenge and how he had substituted the contents of the third for coke before Chao had managed to return from said trip to the bathroom and offered Chao his fourth can sympathetically with the notion that it would help settle his stomach again.

I am however not going to discuss any of this as none of it bar the aforementioned drink dodging is important, also I have just checked the word count on this chapter and it has just went over 10,000 and if you look at the scroll bar you will see that we still have a bit to go before we can go back to our normal lives, which I have distracted you all from for long enough already. So with all that in mind let us fast forward about….oh lets say an hour to the important part of their conversation, which starts something like this.

"…and so." The voice telling the joke faltered with drunken laughter in anticipation of the punchline. "And so…. the barman said to his wife, don't blame me blame that ass that was in bed with you last night."* Chao said as the pair of criminals burst out into a roar of laughter.

"Ahh…" Zhang said eventually, pretending to rub away a tear from his eye. "The barman and his wife jokes never get old do they?" he finished, taking a sip from his tin of beer, which actually contained beer at the present.

"No they never do" Chao agreed, taking a gulp from his respective tin. "That one must have been around for a few hundred years at least. Think it was my grandpa who first told me that one." He continued, polishing off the last of his tin as he did.

"He was a barman himself for half his life so he probably heard more than his fair share of them. Course my grandma would often say that he was the barman the jokes were referring to half the time." Chao finished, as both men began to laugh again. Eventually Zhang got to his feet and picked up the beer tins from the table.

"You want another?" He asked his friend, knowing full well what the answer would be.

"Yeah sure" the now slightly drunk man replied. "How many we got left?" he asked as he watched his friend open the door to the fridge.

"After these two, eight." Zhang replied as he shut the fridge door and returned to his seat.

"That's not bad still plenty left. Where'd you get it by the way? The store down the road doesn't stock it." Chao said as he took his new tin from Zhang's outstretched hand.

"I took a walk to blow off some steam and stopped at the first shop I came to on the way back." He answered; omitting the part where the first shop he had gone into didn't sell it either and that he had had to go around four other stores to find it.

"That was lucky." Chao replied as he gazed at the unopened tin in his hand. "This used to be my grandpa's favourite. It was the most popular beer in his bar and the first one I ever drank..." He paused for a moment, as though recalling a distant memory. "…and the first I ever threw up, along with my dinner. Grandma belted me afterwards for drinking it…" he paused again as a smile formed on his rough face. "…and belted my grandpa twice as much for letting me drink it in the first place." As he finished he let out yet another roar of laughter which Zhang quickly joined him in.

As the laughter once again died down Zhang prepared himself. This was it. This was his chance. He had loosened Chao up enough and got him talking about the beer. Now to guide the conversation in the direction he wanted it to take.

"What was the name of your grandpa's bar again?" He asked, hoping that the man would take the bait.

"The tipsy turtle" Chao replied, sounding as though he was still reminiscing. "Bit of a stupid name for a bar if you ask me." He continued, snapping back to the present as he did.

"What would you have called it?" Zhang continued, wondering if the answer was going to be different from the last time Chao had discussed this particular matter.

"A shite hole." He replied, then seeing the blank look on his comrades face began to elaborate. "That bar was a shit hole for years before it got torched. In the end the only people who would set foot in the place were his old regulars, and then they began to die off as they were just as old as he was." He paused again as another thought came to him. "I suppose it wasn't his fault though, he owed too much money on just having the place to ever even think about borrowing more to do it up." As he finished Zhang almost smiled. This was going to be slightly easier than he had hoped.

"What would you have done to it then?" Zhang continued to probe.

Chao thought for a moment, a look spreading across his face like that of a stereotypical school bully being asked a simple maths question. Finally he answered.

"Well for starters the spittoons and the sawdust on the floor would have gone. Then pretty much all the other furniture and décor. Wild West themed bars may have been big back when John Wayne was around but not in the past three decades." He answered, totally oblivious to where the conversation was leading.

"So if you had a bar what would you do with it?" The other man coaxed, nursing the conversation as though it was a newborn child.

More silence followed this remark as Chao continued to ponder, now looking like a stereotypical school bully who had been asked how to spell the word phone. After a moment of pondering he suddenly realise that he was still holding his latest tin of beer and that it was still unopened. Quickly rectifying this matter he took a swig of the frothy liquid before answering the latest question.

"I'm not sure. I would have to see the place before deciding on what look to give it. Ones things for certain though I would have plenty of TV's in it. People like to be able to watch the football when their having a drink, and it's best if you have multiple screens so that you can show more than one game at a time, stops people arguing over which one gets put on." He answered, taking another drink from the tin he still held in his hand.

Zhang held his breath as the other man finished. This was it. If he new Chao like he thought he did then the next words out of his mouth would be…

"Someday I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna get the cash together and set up my own place… and there won't be a spittoon in sight." Chao said, managing to sound both whimsical and determined at the same time, if that was at all possible.

Zhang paused before opening his mouth to reply. He had to pick his words carefully otherwise Chao would be put off the subject and it would wreck all the hard work he had done thus far.

"I admire your determination but get real for a second. Even if the two of us were to save up every Yen we made from now until we were sixty we still wouldn't be able to afford it between us let alone you trying to do it alone." He eventually said, willing it to have been the right choice of words.

"I suppose your right" Chao said, sounding rather deflated now. "I guess guys like us shouldn't bother to have dreams bigger than a tin of beer and a random whore." As he finished he downed the rest of his tin, that last thought had been rather sobering.

"Yeah it's the best we can hope for." Zhang replied, still choosing his words carefully. "How much do you recon it would cost to set up a bar? 15 million? 25 million?" he continued, patiently choosing each word.

"Something like that." Chao replied. "Maybe more. Who knows? It's not like either of us is ever gonna amass that amount." He finished, contemplating another tin of cold beer.

"I guess not." Zhang responded. "The boss is never gonna pay us that much regardless how long we work for him and it's not as if someone is offering us a better alternative." He concluded, hoping that the seed he was attempting to plant would take root.

"Yeah we're kinda stuck aren't we. I mean it's not as if some guys gonna walk up to us and offer us a pile of cash for what we have to offer…" At this point he stopped, as though something had just crossed his mind. Standing up he looked down at the man who sat opposite him.

"I'm going to the toilet." He said flatly as he crossed the room and hastily opened the door.

As the door closed behind him Zhang smiled to himself. The look on Chaos face had said it all. It was the look he always got when he was contemplating doing something against the boss's orders. Zhang had known for a long time about Chaos dream of opening a bar somewhere and knew that it was the one thing that meant more to him than his loyalty to their boss. Now he would shut himself in the toilet for fifteen minuets or so while he contemplated whether or not he should double cross the boss or not, loyalty always had been one of Chaos main characteristics, especially when it concerned the man who had given him a job after his grandpa had died in the fire that consumed their bar. However Chaos dream of one day owning a bar of his own was stronger than even his loyalty. There was still work to be done though as the man would still take some convincing that this opportunity would work for them, however the hard part was done. The seed had now taken root; all it would take would be some careful watering before it was ready to bloom.

Fifteen minuets later, as if on cue, Chao returned to the room and dropped himself into the stained armchair. He did not say anything although that was to be expected. What wasn't quite expected was that he hadn't even bothered to go to the fridge for another beer; clearly his mind was still not settled on a course of action. With this in mind Zhang decided to play it safe.

"Good piss was it?" He said in an attempt to get the conversation going again.

"Yeah" Chao replied, his eyes apparently fixed on a coffee stain on the table. "Don't think I've pissed that much since that night with the French chick." He laughed at his own remark however it was a half hearted one as silence soon resumed its hold on the room.

It is often in these situations, where some important conversation is about to take place that silence is held for a prolonged period beforehand and that the author decides to try and find some new and inventive way of describing in to the readers, so here's my attempt. It was bloody silent and like all silences it was about to be broken and it was Chao who was about to break it. There short simple and effective, now lets get on with the rest of this scene.

"So what exactly did Ishida say to you earlier?" Chao eventually ventured, trying to mask the interest in his voice.

"About what?" Zhang replied, fully intending to hide his own interest.

"You know..." Chao went on, pausing for a moment to consider his words. "…about the girl."

"Oh that" the other man said in an offhanded manner, as though this branch of conversation was a complete surprise to him. "You know Ishida." He said waving a hand and positive that Chao didn't know Ishida as much as he did but hopeful that what he did know was enough to keep the rusty cogs in his head grinding over the idea. He shrugged.

"He said she was a nice item and that his employer would pay good money to have her." He finished, trying desperately to hide the eagerness in his voice.

"How much is good money?" Chao continued, his interest now becoming more apparent.

"Between one hundred and one hundred and fifty million I think he said" Zhang replied, he could sense that his partner was becoming more interested by the second, that and the fact that his eyes had just lit up like his grandpa's bar upon hearing the two figures.

After a moment Chao let out a low whistle, the kind that people make when such sums of money are discussed.

"That's a lot of money for just one girl." He eventually said his eyes still wide. "Think of what a guy could do with all that cash."

"A guy could do pretty much anything he wanted with that sort of money." Zhang replied, mentally preparing his argument as to why they should do it and how they could get away with it.

"What did he say about us changing our minds?" Chao probed, his interest now practically hung up for display.

"He just said that if we changed our minds we should give him a call before he comes back to pick up the merchandise." Zhang said.

"Yeah but the boss isn't gonna go for that is he." Chao continued; his mind still caught between the two choices.

"I don't think that was what he had in mind." Zhang responded, hoping that Chao had already half convinced himself to go along with t.

"Yeah but how do we explain that one to him. Sorry boss we sold the girl we were looking after to that Ishida person and then pocketed the cash. Somehow I don't see that going down too well." Chao scoffed, sounding very much as if he wanted the other man to have an answer to this problem.

"We wouldn't tell him. In fact once we had the money we would head straight for the airport and get on the first flight out of Japan." Zhang replied.

"Then what" Chao demanded. "We sit on a pile of money and wait for him to find us?"

"No. As soon as we get off the first plane we change some of the money and get on another plane and fly to yet another country. Then once we arrive there we do the same again. By the time the boss has found out what we have done we'll have moved through a few different countries and effectively disappeared. Even once he has worked out that we're no longer in Japan we'll be so far gone he'll never be able to find us. We then decide where we want to go and we go. Once there we can use the money to do whatever we want." Zhang responded, sounding both enthusiastic and self assured.

"And you're sure the boss won't be able to find us." The other man asked sounding almost convinced now.

"Not a chance. He doesn't have access to the resources or contacts needed to do that. Besides he hasn't bothered to request so much as a photo of those two" he pointed towards the window as he said this. "let alone send someone around to check up on us. All we would need to do would be to phone him and tell him that the merchandise has been handed over and the money for it wired directly to his account. It would probably take him until the next day to figure out that something was a miss. By which point we would be on the other side of the world having passed through several countries to get there." Zhang continued, unable to suppress the satisfied tone in his voice.

"And what about the boy?" Chao asked.

"We leave him here. When the boss eventually figures out that something's not right he'll send someone over to check on us and then they can do what they like with him once they find him. Simple." Zhang finished, satisfied that his work was done.

"Alright then. You had better phone Ishida and tell him it's is lucky day." Chao said as he stood up. "I'm away upstairs for some fresh air and a curry. You want anything?"

"Yeah get me my usual. I'll head upstairs with you and phone Ishida. The reception down here is piss poor." Zhang replied as he got up from his own chair.

Their conversation at an end the two men left the room and climbed up the stairs. Once in the garage Chao opened the shutter and went outside, leaving Zhang to conduct another verbal sparring match with Mr Ishida.

*At this point I feel that I must make it clear that Chao is not a descendant of Amidamaru just because he told a similar joke about a barman and his wife. The same can not be said however for the barmen in each joke as I fear that all barmen in such jokes are in some way related. Perhaps there is a universe populated by these barmen and that every so often one of them finds there way to ours. Of course not being from our universe they do not quite understand how things work here and then inevitable end up as the butt of some joke.

##

As he opened the door back out onto the reception of the restaurant three sets of eyes shot towards Yoh Asakura.

"Ah I see you have returned sir" the matrad' said in his oily tone, slightly surprised that the boy had returned exactly as he had left. "Would you care to…" Before Yoh could find out what he may or may not care to do Amidamaru spoke over the man.

"Lord Yoh how did your meeting go? Do you know where we are headed?" the samurai asked, looking slightly relived at the sight of his partner. "And may I ask who is he?" he finished, pointing towards the ghost of the assassin.

At this the eyes of both the matrad' and Mosuke turned to look at the ghost who was floating behind Yoh, the matrad' gulped.

"Ah…" he eventually managed to blurt out. "So it was you that Master Len had Mr Waters sent for." he sounded slightly frightened now.

"Like he said" Yoh replied in answer to Amidamaru's question. "Len thought I could use him to get in and out of the brothel without being detected." He finished, slightly puzzled by the look his guardian ghost was giving him.

"I do not like the feeling I get from this man Yoh. I sense he has killed many people in both life and death. We should rely on our own abilities as we normally do." Amidamaru replied, sounding quite serious.

Before Yoh could reply however the ghost of the assassin spoke.

"You are correct in you assessment Samurai. I will not try to hide the fact that I have killed people in both life and death… much like yourself I might add." He said in his chilly voice.

"I am not like you." Amidamaru spat at the ghost.

"Are you not? We are both men who have killed people because someone else told us to. You may have killed people out of loyalty while I killed them for money but at the end of the day, regardless of our reasoning, we have both done the same thing." He paused for a moment as though waiting for the samurai to challenge his logic. When no reply was forthcoming he continued. "I am merely a servant of the Tao family. I have been instructed to obey Master Yoh's instructions to the letter and that is what I intend to do." He finished, not taking his eyes off the samurai as he did.

"Regardless of you say your orders are I do not trust you." The samurai replied, his own gaze just as unwavering as the assassins.

"That's enough you two." The brown haired shaman said as he looked at his guardian ghost. "This isn't a shaman fight we're about to go into. If I make even one mistake tonight I could lose Anna and Morty for good. I'm sorry Amidamaru but I think Mr Waters might be able to help us." He paused for a moment as he surveyed his friend, trying to find the right words. "I can't do this without you buddy but I need you to trust me on this one." As he finished the samurai looked at him then bowed his head.

"I am sorry Lord Yoh. I did not mean to question your judgment. If this is what you have decided on then I shall accept your decision." He said in a humble voice.

"Thanks Amidamaru." Yoh replied before turning to the matrad', who had remained silent beside Mosuke the whole time. "Can you show us to the garage?" He asked.

"Of course right this way sir" the man stammered as he turned around and motioned for the party to follow him.

Following the matrad' through a door opposite to the one he had just come out of Yoh led his party of three ghosts down a long corridor which he could only assume ran the entire length of the sushi bar. Eventually the Matrad' stopped in front of a dull metal door and withdrew from his pocket a ring of keys. Fiddling with them in the manner of a nervous man he eventually found the one he was looking for and, with his hand shaking slightly, slotted it into the lock.

The heavy door opened with a loud creak and the matrad' fumbled for the light switch before he entered the room. Upon finding it he motioned for the group to enter the room as a set of strip lights flickered into life.

As he entered Yoh caught his first glimpse of the motor bike he was soon to be riding. It was in the style of an American chopper and had a small sidecar fixed to its right hand side. The sight of the bike brought an image to his mind of Anna glaring at Morty and pointing to the side car, a look on her face which read, you're smaller than me Shorty so you can ride in that cramped little space.

"Our equipment is here Master Yoh" the chilly voice of Mr Waters said, snapping Yoh's concentration back to reality, not that the image he had just had was in any way unrealistic, for that was almost certainly going to be Anna's reaction.

"Ok let's see what we have here" The brown haired boy said to the room at large as he walked round the bike to a small table against the wall.

On the table sat a neatly folded black jumpsuit, some sort of belt with various accessories attached to it, a backpack, a headset which was almost identical in both design and colour to Yoh's headphones and…

"Why is there a gun here?" Yoh exclaimed as he looked at the device as though its mere presence was offensive.

"As a last resort" a voice, which sounded very much like Len's, said from the table. "Don't worry it's been modified to shoot tranquilizer darts." The voice continued.

"Len?" Yoh said quizzically, all thoughts relating to the firearm suddenly forgotten at the sound of the Tao shaman's voice.

"Yes now be a good boy and get changed and put on that headset. I hope you like it. I took the liberty of having a pair of those headphones you like modified." Len replied in his usually manner.

"Ok done" Yoh said after a couple of minuets.

"That was fast…" Len said, then he realised what Yoh had just done. "Yoh you didn't happen to just strip naked in the middle of the garage did you?" he asked, already knowing full well what the answer to that particular question was.

"You told me to get changed" Yoh said, unsure as to what was wrong with what he had just done.

"Yes but… Oh never mind. Looks like Morty was telling the truth after all when he told us you changed in the middle of the park before our match. Anyway as you can see there is an equipment belt in front of you. It contains some useful tools that may make life a lot easier for you. As I explained earlier Mr Waters is familiar with all of them so you should have no trouble using them. As for the gun…" He paused for a moment. "…I know you would rather rely on a sword, I would too, but it is far easier to pacify someone with this without causing any lasting damage than it is with a bladed weapon. Anyway it is purely there as a last resort. Hopefully you will not end up in a position in which you have to use it. If however you do need to use it Mr Waters is perfectly capable of handling it." The Tao shaman finished.

"I understand" Yoh answered eventually.

"Now as I explained Mr Waters is quite capable at riding a motor bike so you shouldn't get stopped by any law enforcement. If you do however then you will find the fake drivers licence I had made for you in the backpack. Now just in case something does happen I would suggest that you keep the belt, the gun and your sword hidden in the sidecar under one of the other helmets, the second of which is under bike seat just so you know."

As Len was explaining all this Yoh busied him self by placing his normal cloths inside the backpack. As Len finished he picked up the belt and placed the gun in its holster. Then he walked over to the bike and placed both in the sidecar along with his sword.

"Ok I'm ready to go" Yoh said as he picked up the helmet that was sitting on top of the bike seat.

"Good. I'll be navigating for you so don't worry about anything. Now tell the matrad' to open the door for you and don't forget to unity with Mr Waters. Len said, emphasising his last point.

"Can you open the door for me?" Yoh said, turning to face the matrad' as he did.

"Yes of course." The man replied, slightly taken aback by suddenly being asked to do something.

As the man went of to open the door to the garage Yoh turned to Amidamaru and Mosuke.

"Will you guys be ok following us?" He asked of the two guardian ghosts.

"We shall be fine Lord Yoh" Mosuke answered.

"Good luck Yoh." Amidamaru replied. "We shall be with you every step of the way" he concluded, trying to sound reassuring.

"Thanks guys" The brown haired shaman replied. "Ok let's do this" he said turning to Mr Waters, who promptly changed into his spirit ball form.

"WATERS! SPIRIT FORM! UNITY!" Yoh shouted as he grabbed the spirit ball form of MR Waters and merged it with himself.

Yoh stood there as he gazed at the bike in front of him. Suddenly he felt as though he new exactly how to work it and he wasted no time in climbing on. Turing the key in the ignition the bikes engine roared into life. Kicking the stand up he held onto the break handle and revved the engine a few times just to listen to the sound. After a moment he let the break go and the bike zoomed out of the garage and into the night.


	12. Chapter 12

**Authors note:** Ok so before I begin the chapter I would just like to point out that my inspiration for this chapter was the rear cover of volume 10 of the manga. I saw it and just thought I need to have Yoh ride a motor bike at some point so here we are. As always I would really appreciate some feedback, haven't had any reviews the past couple of chapters so would really like to hear what you folks think of how the story is progressing at the moment and anything I could do to improve it. My future thanks to Kovou for editing this for me (I say future thanks as I am actually writing this authors note before she has even seen this chapter, which is a first as I normally write these just before I post the chapter). Now I'm off to start chapter 13 as I'm not tired yet and am in the mood to keep writing, see you there :)

P.S Ok really sorry about the delay in posting this. As the authors note may (or may not) suggest, I have had this written for about a week. The reason it has not been posted is that I was writing chapter 14 and decided that I wanted to change the order of events slightly. This initially included the events in this chapter, hence the delay. Ironically though I changed my mind to a third alternative that I preferred so this chapter ended up staying as it was when I wrote it last week. My apologies again for that one folks. However, it does mean that, all going to plan, there should be another two chapters in the next ten days, fingers crossed.

I **don't** own Shaman King.

**Chapter 12: Night, Directions and Traffic Lights.**

The night, you know the thing that occurs before the morning but after the evening. The night is unique in that no two nights are the same ya de ya de ya. Yeah I know it's a lot like the morning so since we have already had an extensive talk about that there is not much point in me rambling on about the night as it is very similar only with a lot more black in it.

So with that in mind let us instead move on to the events of this particular evening, specifically events involving one Yoh Asakura, with whom we should all be quite familiar. The last time we saw him he was zooming off into the dark of said night on the back of a motor bike, while in spirit unity with an assassin spirit no less… and taking directions form someone who is in China I might add.

The wind caught Yoh square in the face as he turned another corner and accelerated along this new road. He had to admit he was enjoying this. The rush of adrenaline he felt when he took a corner at speed. The sound of the tires screeching as he accelerated away from a set of traffic lights. Yes even the sharp bite of the wind on his face. However, none of these compared with the thrill of overtaking another vehicle. He may only have been riding for just over an hour, and had his movements guided by the spirit of the assassin, but he already felt as though he could do the entire thing by himself. Perhaps when all this was over he would try to talk Anna into letting him have one, or at least borrow Rio's from time to time.

As he sped further down the road Len's voice eventually tore his thoughts away from how to convince Anna to let him have a motor bike.

"Ok at the end of this road take a left then the immediate right." The Tao shaman's voice declared over the radio.

"Gotcha" Yoh replied as he began to apply the brake.

The bike slowed under the force of the brake and came to a stop neatly at the line as the shaman come biker waited for the lights to change. He may only have been a biker for the past hour but he already had a strong dislike for traffic lights. As he sat there, waiting his right hand absentmindedly revved the engine, looks like he was already picking up stereotypical habits.

As the lights eventually turned from red to green* Yoh released the brake and steadily guided the bike round the corner. As he finished straitening the handlebars, he spied the right turn Len had told him to take. Seeing that there was nothing coming towards him he swiftly turned the bike to the right and took off down yet another long straight road.

"Ok just keep following this road straight ahead." He heard Len say, as he twisted the accelerator until it would twist no more.

"Ok Len. How much further do I have to go?" The brown haired boy asked, realising that he was now breaking the speed limit.

"You still have a long way to go." Len answered. "If you need to stop let me know so I can find somewhere suitable." He continued, sounding serious now.

"I'll be fine Len." Yoh replied, determined that he was going to get to the brothel as quickly as he could. "I'm actually rather enjoying this" he continued, bringing his speed back down to a legal level as he did.

"Ok. Nevertheless if you feel in the slightest bit tired you should stop. Its all well and good you getting there as quickly as you can but if you are knackered when you arrive you will be in no fit shape to do anything. Think of it like one of Anna's exercise regimes. If you burn yourself out in the first hour, the next twelve will be even harder than they would be normally. Plus then you would have Anna ripping your head off for not putting in enough effort." He finished, hoping that mentioning Anna wouldn't distract him from the task at hand.

"Ok point taken" Yoh replied abruptly. "Hey do you think Anna will let me have one if I ask her nicely?" he queried, pulling out into the right hand lane to overtake a slow moving car as he did.

"Have what?" Len asked, slightly confused by the question.

"A motor bike." The wannabe biker replied as he did he could hear the Tao shaman try to muffle his laughter.

"Yes I can imagine exactly how that one would go down" Len said. Had Yoh been able to seen him he would have been aware that there was now a wicked smile on his friends face. "Anna…" he began, doing a rather good impersonation of the Asakura shaman. "…can I please have a motor bike pretty please?" At this point, his voice changed to mimic the Itako's. "Now Yoh, if you get a motor bike then you won't walk anywhere. And if you don't walk everywhere then you'll be slacking off. And if you're slacking off, I'll half to punish you. I don't enjoy punishing you so for both our sakes I suggest you forget the idea. Now go do 500 sit ups as punishment for disturbing me during my favourite show." He finished, rather impressed at how good his impersonations were becoming, now if only he could master Faust's accent.

"On second thoughts maybe I'll just borrow Rio's when he gets back." Yoh replied, sounding slightly deflated, even though he knew he had just heard a pretty accurate portrayal of how that conversation would go down.

Pushing all thoughts of Anna and punishment to the back of his mind Yoh returned his attention to the road ahead, or part of it at least. The advantage of ridding while in spirit unity was that Mr Waters' attention was constantly fixed on the road and on the act of controlling the bike. This allowed Yoh's mind a certain degree of freedom in which to converse with Len or to ponder other matters. One of which being Mr Waters himself.

It was somewhat strange he thought to be paired with a spirit other than Amidamaru. Although he had done it countless times in the past, it had been such a long time since he had last done it that it was kind of odd. That and being paired with the assassin ghost was like nothing he had experienced before.

The spirit had surrendered its will to him the moment he had joined with it and had not spoken, simply helped guide his actions. This Yoh assumed was what happened to ghosts in the service of the Tao family. He knew that before Len had become head of the family that this was the done thing but he never thought he would have to experience the Tao's mentality first hand.

As another set of traffic lights beckoned, Yoh began to slow the bike again. Damn these infernal things he thought as the unwavering red light shone down on him, almost as if it was deliberately refusing to change for him. Why did there seem to be a set of these at every single junction he mused as his impatient right hand began revving the engine.

In the bikes mirrors he could make out the shimmering forms of the two ghosts behind him. They had been close behind him every step of the way, and had almost caused some poor unsuspecting truck driver to crash as they had flown straight through his truck when Yoh had moved to overtake it. Trust those two to float through the one truck whose driver had some sort of sixth sense about him he mused as the amber light flickered into life. Easing the brake handle Yoh hit the accelerator at almost the exact instant the green light burst into life, leaving a large number 11 sign on the ground as he went.

On and on he went down through the night and further into the heart of the city. Had it not been for Len muttering directions in his ear he would surely have gotten lost, the city was huge. Never before had he been so far into it or so out of his depth when it came to knowing where he was or where to go, everything looked the same. The fact that most of it was passing in a blur didn't help much either. As he passed through yet another set of lights he pondered how it might feel to riding be out on the open road. One thing was certain though, he had to have a long chat with Rio the next time he saw him.

"It feels like freedom." a voice said, causing Yoh to almost jump ten foot in the air, bike and all. For a split second he almost thought that Rio had somehow contacted him via the telepathic plane. Then he suddenly realised that the ghost of the assassin had actually spoken to him.

"Did you just say something?" Yoh asked the ghost.

"I am sorry Master Yoh I did not mean to speak out of turn." The assassin replied in his cold monotone.

"Don't worry about it." Yoh replied in his normal carefree manner. "I'm not like the Tao's. I don't mind if you have something to say. In fact I'd prefer it if you did speak to me. It's kinda weird being joined with a spirit and not communicating with them." He finished, trying to encourage the ghost not to remain silent.

"You are a very different shaman from the ones I have met previously." Mr Waters conceded, his tone never varying.

"Heh heh that's me" Yoh chuckled in response. "So what were you saying about riding out on the open road feeling like freedom?" he asked, genuinely interested in what the ghost had to say on the matter.

"Riding out on the open road is like nothing else in the world. Out there, you are free from everything else in life. There is just you, the bike and the road. There are no rules out there. Nothing to hold you back. You just get on the bike and ride." The ghost answered.

As he did Yoh thought he could feel a small amount of yearning coming from the spirit, apparently he couldn't hide everything behind that cold voice of his.

"You miss it don't you" the shaman said in response to the slight glimmer of feeling he had received from the ghost.

There was silence between shaman and ghost for a moment as Mr Waters considered the question. It had been along time, before his death in fact, that someone had asked him a personal question. Having been slightly taken aback the ghost managed to regain his composure before answering.

"It has been a long time since I have been on the back of a motor bike." The ghost responded, his voice sounding slightly warmer now. "Would you like to experience what it is like to control the bike yourself?" he continued, tactically changing the subject away from himself.

It was Yoh's turn to be slightly taken aback. After a moments thought, which consisted mostly of the words hell yeah, the wannabe biker responded.

"Sure. Should I stop and separate from you?" he asked eager to get a chance to control the bike all by himself.

"No, there is no need for that and it is probably not the best of ideas since you still need to pay attention to Master Len's instructions. When we stop at the next set of lights, I will cease guiding your actions. Instead, I will focus on listening to Master Len and then pass his directions on to you. That will allow you to fully concentrate on controlling the bike without having to divide your attention." The assassin spirit instructed, almost feeling the boys excitement as his own.

"Sure sounds good to me" Yoh replied, his thoughts almost bursting with excitement and anticipation.

As the shaman glanced up he could see the next junction approaching and above it a set of lights, currently green. Come on change before I get there he thought as he came closer and closer to them. Had the lights been the vindictive sort they would not have changed, giving that the Asakura shaman had cursed a lot of it's siblings over the past hour, however word had not yet reached them of his insolence so they did what any normal set of traffic lights do when they see a vehicle approaching, they turned to red.

Yes! Yoh thought as the bike came to a stop in front of the now red lights. Suddenly, as if by magic, which it technically was, we can argue that one later, everything about the bike suddenly felt a lot more real.

It now felt like his hands gripping the handlebars, His backside on the seat, His eyes watching for the lights to change. Speaking of the lights, in the period since changing from green to red, word had reached them of the biker who had insulted and offended many of their brethren earlier that night. So again, as is normal with traffic lights, they took an age to change from red back to green.

When they eventually did change, Yoh was ready for them. Releasing the handbrake and twisting the throttle, in the same manner as Mr Waters had been doing through him, Yoh left the line at speed. The thrill he had from the past hours ride was nothing compared to how he felt now. Actually being in control of the bike had increased the sensation ten fold.

As he continued down the straight road the voice of the assassin drifted through his head "Take the next right and then the second left" the ghost said.

Looks like the assassin had been right to remain in unity with him to take over communications with Len for he had been completely unaware that the Tao shaman had spoken to him. Adjusting the handlebars accordingly, he took the corner at speed and felt another rush as he accelerated past the first left and towards the second. As he did so he could feel Mr Waters speaking to Len through him although he had both no time or interest to pay attention to what was being said as the second left was quickly approaching.

"…so why am I now communicating my directions to you instead of directly to Yoh?" The Tao shaman demanded of the assassin ghost over the radio.

"Because he is busy" Mr Waters answered in his usual manner.

"How can he be busy?" Len continued, slightly exasperated. "He's on the back of a motor bike which you are supposed to, for all intensive purposes, be driving."

"He wanted to try being in full control of the bike himself so I let him." The ghost replied, almost managing to sound amused.

Had Mr Waters been able to see the Tao shaman he would have just witnessed one of his trademark looks of long suffering bemusement.

"Oh fine." He began, in a voice that matched his look, which the ghost could not see so it only had half the effect. "Just make sure Steve McQueen there follows my directions and doesn't attract the attention of any law enforcement that may be lurking around. The last thing we need is for him to take the notion that he can outrun them. Now if you don't mind I need to have one of the maids bring me some more milk." He finished, sounding more serious about the last point than any of the others.

"As you wish" the assassin replied. As he did he was sure he could make out Len's voice shouting the words 'Bason', 'milk' and 'at once', then after a few moments the words 'what', 'oh fine', 'Jun', 'milk' and 'now'.

Oblivious to the fact that Len was currently demanding milk from various people and ghosts in his house Yoh continued to guide the bike along the road. Directly in front of him was a slow moving black van, just crying out to be overtaken. Checking the other side of the road for traffic Yoh edged the bike towards the centre of the road. Satisfied that there was nothing there the newfound biker moved the bike all the way across onto the opposite side of the carriageway and accelerated past the other vehicle.

As he brought the bike neatly back to the centre of the left hand lane, his mind began to wander again. This time however his interest in what zooming down a country road at high speed would feel like was no longer a curiosity, it was becoming a full-blown need. If he was ever going to stand up to Anna over anything, this had to be it. Perhaps he would offer to run two miles for every mile he did on the bike. Actually on second thoughts it was probably not a good idea to give Anna ideas on other ways in which to torture him, she had far too many of those already. He smiled endearingly at this thought.

*Contrary to popular belief the go light on a set of Japanese traffic lights is green not blue. The reason for this is some sort of translation thing, which I don't quite understand. On a related matter, did you know that at traffic light controlled junctions in Japan the beeping noise that is used in most countries to signify to blind people that the road is clear is not a beeping noise? No, it is in fact a bird sound. Furthermore, there is a different bird sound for each part of the crossing so that the person can identify which crossing it is that is clear. Well at least according to google anyway.


	13. Chapter 13

**Authors note: **Hello again. I told you I would see you here didn't I. So chapter 13 is here and so are you, what more could an author ask for? Well some chilli coated peanuts would be nice right now. Thanks to my kind editor Kovou, she still hasn't forgiven me for making her edit chapter 11 (remember, the one that was about 15,000 words and contained the adventures of Joco and Lyserg) in one sitting by the way, sorry Kovou. As always reviews are welcome, questions will be answered (providing that I actually know the answer and that it wont spoil future chapters) and feedback taken on board. So without further ado let's get on with things.

I **don't** own Shaman King.

**Chapter 13: Curiosity, Company and Conditions. **

It is a curious thing curiosity, is it not? As a blonde haired girl (who is not Anna Kyoyama) once famously said of life the universe and everything "curiouser and curiouser". The Deep and resounding impact that these words have had on the philosophic community since their utterance has been simply astounding, as many brilliant minds try to understand the sheer magnitude of what the phrase actually meant or was referring to. I haven't the foggiest personally but she had been eating some rather funny mushrooms at about that point so perhaps we had best put it down to having been a bad trip nothing more, and move on. If we need to discus ravens and desks, we'll come back to it.

Another particular phrase involving curiosity also involves a cat or lack of a cat, as said cat snuffs it by the end of the phrase. Apparently, curiosity is a fatal flaw to the fiendish feline master plans for world domination. However, that's another story and not important right now.

At this point you are probably all groaning at the fact that I have made absolutely no sense up to now, which is generally a sign that I am about spend a couple of thousand words explaining myself. Oh how wrong you all are. Now tell me that that does not make you slightly curious. Ok so maybe it won't make you curious at all but you should be, as the character whose point of view we are about to witness has found himself where he is purely out of curiosity.

Mr Ishida sat behind his desk, a pen between his fingers. Since his meeting with Zhang everything that he thought may have been interesting in his days work suddenly turned out to be well… well it had been down right boring that's what it had been. This fact did however amuse him now as he sat and mulled over the days business.

It was funny how the boring and uninteresting parts of the day could often turn out to be more interesting than what the perceived exciting parts did. Of course that rarely happened without something unexpected happening and today had been no exception.

True when he had woken up that morning he had expected to have to supervise the buying of merchandise. This of course had not happened due to as it had later turned out, a clumsy van driver. However, by itself such developments would only at best rank as a minor annoyance, not something that would make a boring event become an interesting one. No the trigger for that particular transformation had come in a much smaller and considerably more valuable package.

Yes the presence of the blonde haired girl had quite spectacularly turned what would have normally have been a rather boring exchange of un-pleasantries into the highlight of his day; make that the highlight of his month in fact, despite the fact that the month had only just started.

In his line of work Mr Ishida encountered a lot of women. In fact it was actually part of his job. Being the current right hand man of one of Japans most important criminals had both its advantages and its responsibilities, one of which involved ensuring that his employer had the best company money could buy.

For Mr Ishida this was both a responsibility and an advantage. The advantage being that his employer liked his company to be cooperative and had no objections to Mr Ishida personally ensuring that it was, so long as he did not spoil its conversation so to speak.

Not that Ishida took personal responsibility for all of his employers company. No only a select few had the privilege of his company before being sent off to his employer. If Zhang changed his mind about the blonde haired girl, she would most definitely receive this privilege. Though he had only seen her from a far he was experienced enough to know that she was both very beautiful and very…a slight curl formed in the corners of his mouth as he thought of a word that best described what he had witnessed. Fiery fit rather nicely he decided. Qualities such as these set his personal tastes apart from those of his employers who, As far as Ishida was concerned knew nothing of beauty. A good set of breasts and a tight backside were the only physical qualities that his employer favoured. He was more interested in them being both young and pure, the younger the better in fact.

So long as they weren't completely lacking in the facial department his employer was not fussy. In fact he had found out from multiple sources that his employer spent about as much time looking at a girls face as he did the underside of their nails, preferring instead to look at them from behind or to ogle their chest and lower areas.

Mr Ishida on the other hand felt he had much more of a refined taste as it were. To him a good set of breasts and a tight backside were of minor importance when compared to a woman's overall beauty, both outside and inside. What lay on the inside was the second point on which their tastes differed. As previously stated his employer liked his company cooperative. He liked them so cooperative in fact that they were practically zombies, devoid of almost any personality and passion, something that Mr Ishida disliked entirely. To him a woman should have personality, be beautiful and above all be passionate, three things that the blonde haired girl seamed to have in abundance.

Twirling his pen between his fingers Mr Ishida's eyes skimmed over the report that lay in front of him with disinterest. Bugger this he thought as he flipped its cover back over it. It appeared that even a rather detailed report of how the unfortunate driver had met his untimely end was not going to be enough to distract his attention from the blonde girl. Not that he was fixated by her himself, of course not. He did not get involved in that sort of thing, but rather because his employer had been becoming increasingly bored with his current company and, as a result increasingly demanding for Ishida to provide him with something more substantial.

That was where the blonde haired girl came in. From his brief…viewing of her he could see that she had a slender build with the all-important tight backside. He smiled and closed his eyes as the image of the memory formed in almost perfect detail in his head. Yes, that part he had gotten an exceptionally good look at, though her breasts were not overly large, he wasn't sure without seeing them close up, if she was, as he suspected, under eighteen then there was still plenty of time for them to develop.

Furthermore due to her suspected age and the fact that she had made the boy turn round when she had relived herself she was not used to people seeing her private area, which meant that there was a good chance of her still being pure. That would mean three out of four straight away with a chance of the fourth developing. Perhaps he should consider keeping her for a year to allow her potential to fully develop. Then again, that would require him to find someone else in the meantime…

At this thought Mr Ishida threw his pen down on top of the now closed file. All of this contemplation and speculation was pointless unless Zhang took the bait. Unless of course he had Zhang and his comrade disposed of. But then that would ruin all the hard work he had put in over the past six months.

The Havens were new to the drug business and he had managed to secure a large amount of merchandise at a fantastic price. True it had been risky in sourcing merchandise from an inexperienced group but the risk had been well worth the money he had managed to save the company. The major downfall in it all was he had had to personally arrange every deal and oversee every transfer himself but it had been worth it, and not just for the company but also for him personally. The problem with being the right hand man to one of Japans largest criminals is that you have everyone else bellow you trying to oust you from the position. To combat this you have to work twice as hard as before just to fortify your position and Mr Ishida had been fortifying his position from before he had even had it.

Getting up from his old-fashioned leather chair Ishida walked around from behind his antique oak desk and slowly crossed the room to a small round oak table that was situated in a corner in front of a pair of adjoining bookcases. On top of the table sat a small silver tray which contained a small crystal decanter, a miniature ice bucket complete with tongs and a single glass in the same style as the decanter. Gently removing the heavy stopper from the decanter Mr Ishida poured some of the amber liquid into the glass with his left hand while his right picked up a single ice cube with the tongs and placed it inside the glass. Satisfied with his drink he proceeded to replace the stopper into the decanter.

Glass in hand the tall man made his way back across the room so he could stand behind his desk and stare out of the large window that sat beyond it. It was a beautiful sight he thought as he took a sip from the glass. The landscape which surrounded his home offered some spectacular views. The tall hills leading down to lush fields of grass spread out across the land to his left. The fields then made their way to a small river which snaked its way through the land, obstructed by nothing. On the other side of the river lay a large forest whose trees seamed to spread out beyond the horizon itself.

The whole thing truly was fantastic and to think, save his staff, he was the only one who got to enjoy these views on a regular basis, for there was no other estate or village for a good few miles. Mr Ishida literally lived in the middle of nowhere and that was how he liked it. There was too much noise and activity in the city for him. True he had to travel there almost every day for work but that was different. It was not as if he could not tolerate it for the city did have its own charm to it, he just preferred to be able to leave it all behind at the end of the day.

Swirling the contents of the glass around in his hand Mr Ishida brought his gaze up to look at the sky. The black clouds that had hung over his dominion this morning had completely moved on towards the city without having spilled a drop of their precious precipitation and instead a clear star strewn sky reflected back at him. One thing was certain; he would not like to be outside in the city tonight when they finally did decide to drop their cargo.

As he took another sip from the glass his pensive state was broken by the sound of his work phone vibrating its way across his desk. Turning to face the offending object the look of annoyance on his face vanished when he saw who had dared to disturb him. His lips formed into an amused smile as he swiftly scoped the device up off the desk and pressed the accept button.

"Good evening" he said in his usual calm and collected manner as he brought the device to his ear.

"Hey Ishida its Zhang here" a voice on the other end replied.

Mr Ishida silently laughed to himself as he heard the voice of the other man. He already knew what the conversation was going to be about so he might as well have some fun with it.

"It appears that your manners have not improved one iota over the course of the day." He sighed slightly. "How poignant" He responded in an almost mocking tone, he could almost hear the other man grind his teeth as he finished.

"Listen Ishida I don't have time for nor do I care about what you think of my manners." Zhang began, cursing himself that he had let Ishida get to him after only five seconds. "I have a question for you…" he did not get to state what his question was however as Mr Ishida decided to cut in.

"My dear fellow it is for your own good that I chastise you. How do you ever expect to get anywhere in life without first grasping the basic rules of good civilised conversation? Now since it is you who has disturbed me and since it is you with the question I think it is best if we start again, don't you agree?" Mr Ishida said smoothly, not giving Zhang a chance to interrupt him. On the other end of the phone he could hear Zhang physically sigh in defeat. There was a pause for a moment before he next heard the other mans voice.

"My apologies Mr Ishida" Zhang began, sounding as though he was gritting his teeth slightly. "It has been a long day and I would appreciate it if we could deal with this matter as quickly as possible." He finished, disgusted at the fact that he had just apologised to the man.

"And…" Mr Ishida answered, fully intending to have the man conform to all possible pleasantries of conversation.

"And good evening." Zhang continued, having to suppress his desire to rant at the man again, he really was infuriating.

"Now why could you not have begun with that in the first place Zhang? It is not so difficult. To what do I owe the pleasure? " Mr Ishida asked, even though he already knew the answers to both he and Zhang's next set of questions.

"Like I said I have a question for you." Zhang answered, trying to play Ishida at his own game, a fatal mistake if ever there was one.

"Yes I gathered that the first time. No need to repeat yourself you know. Does this question of yours bare some relation to our business or are you merely phoning me for idle conversation?" Mr Ishida asked, sensing that the man was trying to regain some control on the conversation.

"It is business related" Zhang began; now starting to regret taking Ishida on at his own game.

"Good, as I have no desire for idle conversation tonight and you will find me to be a man of purpose. What part of our little business arrangement do you have a query about?" He answered, opting not to spin this part of the conversation out any longer.

"It's the girl" Zhang began; glad to finally be getting somewhere. "I was wondering if you were still interested in…" he paused for a heartbeat before finding a term he was comfortable with. "…purchasing her." He finished; relived that Ishida had not interrupted him this time.

At this point the smile that was playing on Mr Ishida's face widened. True he had already know that this was what Zhang was phoning him about but actually hearing him say those words made it real and oh so much sweeter.

"As it so happens I am" he replied swirling the contents left in his glass near enough to the phone that Zang would be able to hear the ice clink and managing to retain his normal demeanour, even though he was now exceedingly interested in where the conversation was headed.

"Good" Zhang began, reminding himself not to sound too eager to do a deal with the man. "The boss has decided to sell her and thought we would offer you first refusal since you have already shown interest in her." He concluded, satisfied that he had kept a rather professional sounding tone.

Upon hearing this Mr Ishida almost bent over laughing. Zhang actually thought that he would be able to pass this sale off as something more than two criminals hoping to make a fast buck and then scarper. However this played right into his hands of course as they would be unwilling to comply with certain stipulations he had when buying company for his employer. This in turn would then lower the price tag and allow him to fortify his own position in the company even further. For now though he thought it would be amusing to play along and slowly take Zhang's charade apart bit by bit.

"I am honoured you would hold me in such consideration I assure you. Have you come to an arrangement on an opening bid or how much you would be looking for to part with her?" he eventually said.

"One hundred and fifty million Yen" Zhang replied flatly.

Ishida let that hang in the air as if considering while he sipped his drink "For one hundred and fifty million I would have to insist on certain…" he paused for a moment while he searched for a suitable word. "…conditions" he finally settled for.

"What sort of conditions would we be talking about?" Zhang responded quizzically, not liking where this was headed.

"Well for that kind of money…" he clicked his tongue as if it pained him for the arrangements he would have to make. " I would of course insist on being able to fully inspect her myself. Furthermore I would require a licensed physician to perform a full medical evaluation and to verify that she both pure and as you say she is." He allowed that to sink in before continuing.

"As far as payment is concerned I would be agreeable to wire half of it to your employers account upon receiving possession of her and the other half once she has been certified pure." Mr Ishida answered smoothly. That would surely destroy Zhang's charade he thought. On the other end of the phone he was sure he could hear Zhang cover the mouthpiece of his phone and swear. Patiently he waited.

After a few moments of silence, Zhang eventually responded.

"Out of the question." Zhang spat down the phone. "The boss wants the money, in cash on collection. Not to have to hang around for a few days while you and some doctor swoon over her." He finished.

"Well in that case I am afraid I will not be able to offer you full price for her." Mr Ishida replied coolly.

"We can let you examine her yourself on collection however we must insist on all of the money up front." Zhang responded, now resigned to the fact that Ishida had him where he wanted him.

"Very well." Mr Ishida began, satisfied that he had rid the other man of his delusions. "One hundred million Yen for her, in cash. However I will require that you bring her to me." He finished, taking another sip of his drink as he did.

"Like we're going to bring her onto your turf. Why don't you collect her from us when you return to collect the merchandise?" Zhang retorted, not willing to risk a trip to one of Ishida's strongholds.

"Neutral ground then" Mr Ishida began, hoping that this would be enough for Zhang. To be fair he could quite easily force his hand and force Zhang to bring her to him, but this way he could kill two birds with one stone. "You bring both the merchandise and the girl and I will bring the money. We meet on neutral ground and conduct both deals at the same time. Sound fair?" He concluded, knowing that Zhang would be a fool to turn down such an arrangement.

"Sounds fine to me" Zhang responded sounding slightly defeated as he did.

"Good. There is an abandoned fireworks warehouse five miles south of where you currently are we shall conduct the deal there at eleven o'clock the day after tomorrow." Mr Ishida continued. "Oh and by the way I must stress that I will not be willing to pay for her if she is in any way damaged and is not at least…" he paused for a moment, searching for the right word. "…cooperative" he eventually settled for. "I trust there will be no issue there?"

"When you say cooperative what exactly do you mean?" Zhang asked tentatively.

"I do not require nor do I wish for her to be broken in any way. I simply require that she does not attempt to…" He paused again, "…assault the person who removes her restraints. And in case you are wondering I have already witnessed her fiery nature."

There it was that word again; he smiled as he listened to the sound of the other man breathing. " That won't be a problem will it?" he finished, an image of Zhang's face forming in his mind when the man realised that he would have to make an attempt at making the fiery blonde slightly more docile.

"No that won't be a problem" Zhang replied, trying to sound reassuring, whether that was more his benefit or Ishida's he did not know.

"Glad to hear it. Goodnight Zhang, sleep tight." Mr Ishida said, knowing full well that Zhang would not likely be going anywhere near a bed tonight.

"Night" Zhang replied at which point he phone went dead.

Placing his phone back on his desk Mr Ishida finished the drink in his hand and made his way across the room to pour himself another. Now all he had to do was contact his employer and request the funds for the purchase. That could wait until morning though he thought as he once again removed the stopper from the decanter. Pouring some more of the decanters contents into the glass then adding an ice cube Mr Ishida smiled to himself. It appeared that his servants would have extra work to do tomorrow.

##

Zhang hung up his phone and let out a long, and rather loud, sigh of relief. The conversation had been…trying he thought. Not that he would have expected anything less; conversations with Ishida always were, but that one had been particularly difficult owing to the fact no doubt that Ishida had known exactly why Zhang was calling. The tall man had known from the second he had answered the phone that Zhang was intending to screw over his own boss just so he could make some money. Hell, it had been his damn idea in the first place.

Thinking about it, Zhang reflected, they were probably just lucky that Ishida had not forced the issue and made him agree to his terms and a smaller fee. Apparently, Mr Ishida had some semblance of fair play and criminal honour about him after all

Pocketing the phone Zhang let out another sigh. Looking around him, movement caught his attention. He watched as the lone figure of Chao wandered leisurely back towards him curry in hand. Not a moment too soon he thought as the man slowly approached. They were going to have a long night ahead of them and curry probably would not feature long on the agenda.

"What's up?" Chao said as he approached the other man.

"Bring that inside" Zhang replied, turning towards the garage shutter "We may have a slight problem." He finished, rolling the shutter up as he did.

"Oh what is it now?" Chao asked his tone a decent imitation of his normal contempt when talking about the polished shoed bozo as he had dubbed Ishida. "His royal mannered-ness not quite playing ball? Let me guess, he swings both ways and wants the boy to, like getting the little toy with a cheery feast meal." Chao asked. "I hope you told him where to go with that stick up his…"

"Just get inside will you." Zhang interrupted instead choosing to ignore the entire disturbing train of thought. He beckoned the other man inside.

Slightly annoyed at being ignored Chao replied. "What? He suck the sense of humour right down the phone from you too did he?" and walked through the door, only to have the shutter pulled down hastily behind him.

Zhang turned around and headed for the stairs, his partner right behind him.

When it seemed that his ill attempts at joking did nothing to aid the situation the part of Chao's brain that wasn't beer sodden asked "So what's going on?" in a slightly more concerned tone. No reply came.

The two men walked down the stairs and entered the middle room. After closing the door behind them Zhang threw himself down on the sofa. Grabbing a pen and piece of paper that was lying around on the table, he quickly scribbled something down before turning his attention to the other man.

"You had better hurry up with that." He said, pointing to the blue bag in the other man's hand.

"Why?" Chao demanded, getting impatient as well as annoyed. "What did the polished shoed bozo say that's got you acting like this? Did the deal fall through? What the hell's going on?" he finished, his voice getting louder.

"We may have a problem." Zhang replied, sensing the other man was not willing to wait any longer. "And no, Ishida agreed to pay 100 million for her. We're meeting him here…" he continued, holding up the piece of paper he had just scribbled the address down on. "…the day after tomorrow at eleven. We're going to transfer the merchandise and her at the same time." He finished.

"So what's the problem? and why are we meeting him there, can't he come here?" Chao replied looking slightly calmer now as the beer addled part of him soothed his fraying nerve and left him to deal with his stomach in peace. He sat two rather grubby plates on the table along with the curry bag, which he proceeded to empty.

"No. He wanted us to come to him but I managed to get him to concede to neutral ground." Zhang began, omitting the part where Ishida could have quite easily forced his hand. "The problem is the girl. Ishida won't pay for her unless she's…." he sat back and sighed the last word "… cooperative." He finished, his stomach making some sort of noise in response to his nostrils being filled with the smell of curry

"What does he mean by that?" the other man responded, dumping the contents of both his curry and rice containers onto his plate, spilling some of both onto the grimy table, which he ignored. He wasted no time in digging into the mound of hot Indian food as he waited for an answer

"His exact words were; 'I do not require nor wish for her to be broken in any way.' But he does want her not to try to beat up the person who takes off her muzzle." Zhang replied as he emptied his own food out onto his plate, making considerably less mess than his associate.

"Well what's the problem?" Chao asked, tearing off a large slice of nann bread and dunking it into his sauce as he did. "Have you seen her lately? She's not moved or spoke since I tasered her again. I say to hell with the muzzle to start with that way she wont need to attack nothing taking one off will she? Hah-Ha ! Problem solved." He continued, stuffing the now soaked nann bread into his mouth.

"Well she must have done something while Ishida was here because he knows about her 'fiery nature'." Zhang replied, spooning some of his curry into his mouth once he had finished.

"Oh come off it. Fiery Nature? Her? That guy doesn't have taste if he thinks that. He'd like a rabid pit-bull if we stuck it in a dress and wig if he thinks that psycho's nature is fiery." Chao scoffed, shovelling more curry into his mouth. "Ishida was bluffing! Probably so he could get a better deal from us." He said through a mouth full of rice, some of it spilling out as he spoke.

"I don't think he was" Zhang responded, sounding serious. "He only mentioned it after we had agreed a price and the way he said it makes me think he was telling the truth. Which means…?" He finished, waiting for his cohort to pick up the slack on this thought process and continuing his assault on his own curry.

"Which means we should go out, find a pit-bull, and put it to the test that's what it means."

Zhang was forced to roll his eyes. " No. Idiot. How the hell do you think he knew about the bitch's fiery nature, whatever you want to call it?"

"Don't know. He's psychic." Chao answered his tone rising into sarcastic defence mode and his fork stabbing at the poor curry as if it personally had caused him great upset this evening.

"Don't be stupid. No, it means Ishida obviously saw her doing SOMETHING and that she's not as cooperative as you seem to think."

"Bollocks!" Chao exclaimed through a mouth full of curry, more rice spilling from his mouth. "Come on I'll prove it too you." He said, tossing his fork down and standing up from his chair as he did.

"Hold on Chao." Zang responded, concerned that perhaps his partner was being overly reckless. "Can we at least finish our curry first?"

"No. You're going to have a bug up your arse about this until I prove you otherwise and you'll put me off my food." Chao stated flatly, snatching the key to Anna and Morty's cell from its hook on the wall.

"I don't think this is a good idea." Zhang protested getting to his feet himself as the other man made his way out of the room.

"That's your problem Zhang you think too much. Just watch, watch what happens and when I'm right you can sit and eat your curry and I'll say I told you so." The beer sodden side of Chao responded flatly, as he opened the door to the cell room.


	14. Chapter 14

**Authors note:** Ok, to anyone who is still reading this… 'Insert amusing description of story here', I am really sorry that this chapter wasn't finished and posted a few days ago but I have been unwell the past three and not felt like sitting in front of the laptop and writing. For those of you who have stuck with me thus far I hope you are all still enjoying reading this story and will continue to do so. As far as updates go I will be aiming for one a week, probably on a Friday (just because today is Friday and it gives me a whole week to write the next chapter :) ).

At this point I am pretty sure there's supposed to be something about thanking my editor Kovou and asking you folks to give me some feedback. However since I can't seem to recall what I am supposed to say I'll just politely ignore it and get on with the actual chapter, which is what we're all here for.

I **don't** own Shaman King.

**Chapter 14: The Father, The Son and The Holy Terror. **

The media are a fickle bunch are they not? Yes, they are and I intend to prove it. After which I will most likely end up with enough notifications of lawsuits against me to have destroyed a rainforest. I hope the paper companies used for said notifications are of the sort that plant new trees for each one they cut down. If not then we are going to run low on Oxygen quite quickly. It will be like Soviet Russia all over again.

"You want Oxygen?" the ration officer said in his stereotypical Russian voice. "No problem. You stand in line here for rest of day, so you can fill in this form. You get your Oxygen in three weeks." He finished. At this point it is worth noting that he has a striking resemblance to the author of a shaman king fanfict, only wearing a red army uniform. Well I had to get another job after all of those lawsuits didn't I.

However that is all in our future so let us get back to the point at hand. The press are a fickle bunch of… well ficklers that's what. Take for example the issue of government. Have you ever noticed that every newspaper supports a particular political party, at least in the UK they do. At first glance, it might not be obvious which one it is but what you should be able to deduce without much work is whether they are for or against the government.

Now let us just imagine that on a particular day the government makes a royal fuck up of something important, which is not stretching the imagination too far to be fair. What you will most likely find is that the day after said foul up a newspaper that, only the previous day was in support of the government, is now dead against them. In fact to a person who had never read said paper it would appear as though this newspaper had never supported the government in its existence.

Let's face it; the press just want to be popular. There like the kids from school who suddenly liked everything you did just so you would be friends with them. Then next week they are part of the crowd who are lobbing stones at you because you are no longer cool.

Speaking of which, pelting stones at someone important who most people think has gotten two big for their boots is a sure fire way of either remaining popular or becoming so, humans by default like to ally themselves with those who bring said big booted people down. Mansumi Oyamada was one of these people, and was currently being pelted with more stones than one of John Cleese's characters in the Monty Python film The life or Brian.

He sat behind his desk with his teeth gritted. The pen he was currently holding was lucky not to have buckled under the pressure he was currently exerting on it. All in all, not another brick in the wall mind, today was not as bad as tomorrow was likely to be but exponentially worse than yesterday. No, he surmised if he had thought that the previous day had been bad it was nothing compared to what had happened so far today.

Haven awoken to the sound of federal agent's barging into his mansion with a warrant for his arrest, Mansumi had, for all intent and purposes, been dragged from his own bed, barely given time to get dressed before being escorted down his own stairs, out his own front door and into a waiting vehicle.

Furious at how he had been treated and demanding his legal counsel he was then driven down the drive and out of the gates, right into a horde of paparazzi fighting amongst themselves trying to get a picture of him for the front cover of their respective newspapers.

A short car ride later and he had arrived down town. As he was escorted from the car, the collective flashes from the assembled photographers had almost been blinding. Entering the building he had been taken straight to an interview room, where the agents in charge of the investigation had tried to start some sort of terrible rendition of bad cop good cop, only to be interrupted by his entire legal team bursting into the room.

Mansumi had never in his life been so glad to see a bunch of lawyers. True this lot should have stopped this sort of thing from happening in the first place or at least warned him that it was going to happen. However, nothing is more effective in getting in the way of good police work than a bunch of lawyers. As the detectives started to grill him over his companies' recent business activity, his legal team had provided dozens of reasons why he would not or did not have to answer their questions.

Three hours this had went on for before the agents had had to admit defeat. Having got nothing from him and with no concrete evidence on which to charge him they had been forced to release him, for now at any rate.

Crashing the doors of the police station open by himself, Mansumi had proceeded to walk straight past the ensemble of media personnel, as though trying to prove a point, and into one of the cars the lawyers had arrived in.

Another short car journey and he had arrived at his office, where those members of the media who had been quick on their feet were gathering, speculation on what had happened in the station rife. He had been charged, no strip-searched, no found guilty, no found innocent, attacked the officer in charge of the investigation and so on. It seemed they were adamant on getting answers or at least enough photographic 'evidence' to run with one of the rumours.

He could see the front pages now _'Oyamada takes a bite out of crime – Downtrodden CEO attacks police officer during questioning.'_ 'CEO_ Goes CE-WHOA! As police remove $1000 worth of evidence from search of Oyamada Home._' He shook his head and getting out of the car had to run, or rather walk, the gauntlet one last time before he had reached the safety of his headquarters. Striding through the reception he had headed straight to the elevator, taking it straight up to his office and personal quarters.

A quick shower and a fresh suit later he had rounded on his receptionist, demanding that every single scrap of paperwork, relating to the transactions that the FBI were so interested in, be brought to his office and that he was not to be disturbed by anything or anyone, especially his now replaced telephone.

So here he was. Sitting behind his desk with boxes upon boxes of paperwork stacked beside it, the contents of one currently strewn across the desks surface. There had to be something in here he thought, something that would explain how the FBI had managed to find out about those deals.

Throwing another file back into its box Mansumi glared at the remaining boxes. He had been at this for hours, and so far he had come across nothing that would explain how the FBI had found out. If, as he was beginning to suspect, there was nothing in the files then that meant there had to be a leak. Someone in his employ had tipped them off. The only trouble with that was that there was over fifty people with both the access and the motive to do so. Before he had managed to compile the full list however, he was interrupted by the one thing that above all others he had not wanted to be disturbed by, his phone was ringing.

Letting out a roar of indignation, Mansumi grabbed the offending device from its cradle. He could not ignore this call, as the only people who had a direct line to his office phone were the ones who would not be contacting him if it were anything other than extremely important.

"YOU HAVE EXACTLY FIVE SECONDS TO TELL ME EVERYTHING THAT YOU INTEND TO BEFORE I HANG UP!" he bellowed down the phone, moving it back in the direction of the cradle the second he had finished.

"We still can't find your son sir" the voice replied quickly, as though prepared for this eventuality.

"WHAT!" Mansumi yelled getting to his feet and pressing the phone back against his ear. "IDIOTS. I TOLD YOU PEOPLE TO FIND HIM OR ELSE." He continued, his voice never lowering.

"I Know sir but it's proving difficult. We have examined what little satellite footage there is of the area where his phone was found but have come up with nothing. It must have been dumped at a time when the satellite was not overhead." The man continued, in a sheepish tone.

There was an exceptionally pregnant pause before the voice ventured. "We may have to consider the idea that, with recent company developments sir….he's been kidnapped."

"MAY HAVE TO CONSIDER THE IDEA WELL IT'S A BIT OBVIOUS ISNT IT YOU IDIOT!" Mansumi screamed back. "TELL ME YOU HAVE AT LEAST MANAGED TO KEEP THIS FROM THE PRESS" he continued, his whole body now shaking.

"So far we have sir." The man replied in a slightly more relaxed voice.

"Good" Mansumi began, calming slightly. "The last thing I need right now is those BASTARDS getting wind of THIS" he went on imagining the press' reaction, his moment of calm evaporating.

"Now has there been any sort of contact from them yet?" he asked, his voice lowering slightly as though 'them' might be listening.

"No sir. It is possible that they are waiting for confirmation of us being aware of the situation. If that is the case then they are most likely getting there information from the media. Perhaps..." The voice began but was quickly cut off.

"DON'T YOU DARE SUGGEST THAT WE LEAK THIS TO THE PRESS." Mansumi bellowed his rage back to its peek. DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA OF HOW MUCH WORSE THAT WILL MAKE ME LOOK!" he finished, his face turning puce at the thought of letting the press know about the situation.

"Umm…" the voice began before it was cut off again.

"I DID NOT THINK SO!" Mansumi continued. "JUST DO AS I TELL YOU AND FIND THAT LITTLE SHIT AND I MEAN NOW!" he went on, slamming his free hand down on his desk and bending over the wooden piece of furniture.

"AND KNOW THIS" he said, not happy with the verbal thrashing he had already handed out. "If you do not find him and, more importantly, keep this out of the media then you will all be so far fired that you will all wish you had been unemployed for the past sixteen years." He concluded, his voice was almost a whisper now but that made it no less ferocious or terrifying.

Throwing the phone down onto the desk Mansumi fell back into his chair, his heart hammering. Taking the small orange pill bottle, which he was becoming more and more accustomed to seeing, from his inside jacket pocket he proceeded to pop the cap and shake two white caplets from it into his other hand.

Putting the bottle back into his pocket, after recapping it of course, he reached forward and picked up a half-filled glass of warm water from his desk. Throwing the pills into his mouth, he drained the glass then let it slip from his hand onto the floor, where it failed to shatter and instead just rolled under the desk.

He had better give the pills sometime to kick in; he'd eat while he waited he thought as he stood up from the chair. Moving out from behind the desk Mansumi made his way towards the tall doors that led out of his office grasped the black metal handle in his hand, pulled it down, opened the door and strode out of his office and past his receptionist, barking at her to have some dinner sent up for him as he went.

##

Boredom would be something that I could discuss here. Nothing would also be a potential candidate. The only problem with either of those is that I've already discussed both and would just end up repeating myself. So with that in mind what else is there for me to talk about? Well not a lot to be honest with you. The reason for this being that in his current circumstances, which involved sitting on a cold floor behind a set of bars with only an unresponsive girl for company, Morty Oyamada had precious little to distract his attention.

It is a sad day indeed when the most you have to distract yourself is the plastic toy from a Cheery Feast and a copy of yesterday's newspaper. Which was made even sadder by the fact that said newspaper was no longer in one piece and parts of it were missing. Well when I say missing what I really mean is lying on top of a pile of… well on top of a pile of shit, put bluntly, and not any of your sub standard dogs shit either. No this was a pile of good honest human shit. Unless of course we make the distinction between humans and shaman, in which case it was a pile of good honest shaman shit, but that is just a technicality.

So going back to my point regarding the completeness of the newspaper it is of absolutely no importance that the first part of it to go was the front page. The front page, which once sported a rather large picture of Morty's father Mansumi, had been the first page used by Anna Kyoyama to wipe her backside. Whether this was in any way a premeditated act, is currently unknown. What is know however is that after she was finished there had never been, or ever would be for that matter, a better looking photograph of Mansumi Oyamada.

Putting all that to one side the fact of the matter was, and still is, that Morty was left with part of a newspaper and two plastic toys for company. Sitting with his back to the wall, the unresponsive figure of Anna Kyoyama to his right, and the pile of shaman… stuff in the far corner where he had been forced to relieve himself also, Morty had resorted to his memories for company.

That had occurred almost two hours ago. What had remained of the newspaper had taken him hardly any time at all to read, owing to the fact that it was a tabloid whose articles were told mostly through pictures and pathetic pun headlines. The plastic toys on the other hand he had not even bothered to look at. No his memories were all he had to keep him company at this moment in time.

The truth of the matter was he was actually searching his mind for something, anything that would help him understand what was wrong with the Itako. There were only a handful of memories he had which did not have Anna as her usual fearsome self. The first of which was when the 'infamous' Tokageroh had possessed Rio and attempted to seek his revenge on Amidamaru, with Yoh being caught in the middle.

That particular event had been a real revelation for Morty. Not only had he witnessed Anna display some emotion he had actually seen her cry. Something which she had of course quickly gotten over, then promptly declared, in typical Anna fashion, that had Yoh thought his training had been bad before then he was in for a shock as it was about to reach a whole new level of pain and suffering.

Giving Anna's record for harsh punishments Yoh was probably lucky it had only been a few tears, Morty thought as he replayed the scene over in his head, searching for something that might help him. Unfortunately, the only thing he could come up with was that Anna's emotions were tied to Yoh, something he had known for a long time so it was not much help.

Putting the Tokageroh incident to one side Morty cast his back to the other stand out incident, the one where Zeke had absorbed Yoh. Near the start of the battle against Zeke, Yoh had taken him on in single combat and lost. After having beaten his brother, Zeke had proceeded to absorb his spirit and merge it with his own. As he did, Morty could remember hearing Anna scream from somewhere down the path. She had not even needed to see it to know what had happened; such was the power of her connection to Yoh.

He could still remember in vivid detail the nature of that scream. All the hurt and pain she must have felt on suddenly finding Yoh to be… for want of a better word, gone. Soon she had appeared amongst them. Picking up Yoh's fallen headphones from the ground and placing them around her neck, as though wearing them would restore some of the lost feeling, she had then attempted to bind Zeke using her ten eighty beads. When that failed she had staggered backwards away from the conflict, all hope lost.

Realisation once again hit Morty for the second time today like one of the Itako's hands. He had not paid much attention to Anna at the time, largely because Zeke and the spirit of fire had been bearing down on them ready to send them all into the afterlife, and even then, they wouldn't have gotten away as he would most likely have fed their spirits to the spirit of fire afterwards.

From what he could remember though it all made sense. Anna had become completely despondent after having lost Yoh and their only other way of defeating Zeke, which, he guessed, was similar to how she must be feeling now.

She must be feeling totally lost without being able to sense Yoh, Morty thought as he turned to look at the blonde girl. Add to that the fact that she had no way of helping herself and it was almost the exact same scenario. To make matters worse the uncertainty surrounding what had happened to Yoh when they had last saw him must be eating her inside. For all they knew Yoh could have been killed and they would be none the wiser sitting here in this dank cell.

Morty wanted to be sick. Regardless of Anna absolving him of any blame in their current situation, it did not change the fact that she was here because of him. He was the one to blame for her current state. It was his fault that for, as far as he was aware, her being unable to sense Yoh for only the second time in her life. He was the reason that she felt helpless.

Why couldn't the men have taken him when he was alone? he thought. There had been plenty of time at the train station or if they had found him a few blocks earlier, they could have kidnapped him and Anna would never have had to endure any of the tortures she had been put through during the past two days.

No… this wasn't helping he thought, trying his best to suppress his guilt as he did. This kind of thinking would not help him or Anna. There was nothing he could do to help get them out of here he knew that, but he had to at least try to do something for Anna. But what? He had had enough trouble just getting her attention last time, after which she had burst into tears. Let alone being able to hold up a conversation with her. Regardless, the way things were going he might have to do something drastic, like throwing water over her, the next time he needed to speak to her.

As he mulled the possibilities, most of which ended in his death, of what Anna would do to him if he threw water over her. Morty realised that he actually did need to 'throw' some water. Groaning as he did so, Morty stood up and walked towards 'the corner' where the small collection of shaman bi-product was slowly amassing.

Upon finishing his latest edition to the ensemble, Morty returned to where he had previously been seated. Only he never got the chance to sit down as at that moment the sound of voices and the creaking of the rooms only door filled his ears.

As the door to the cell room creaked open Morty froze and turned to face the source of the noise. Into the room came the two men, one slightly in front of the other.

"I really don't think…" Morty heard the second of the two men begin to say before he was cut off.

"Oh will you just shut up" the lead man responded as he reached the door to the cell, slotted a key into the lock and turned it. He pulled and the door jerked open with a resounding creak.

What was he doing? Morty thought as he stood and watched the man enter the cell, the other kidnapper had stopped just short of the door. Then his face went white when he realised exactly what the man was about to do.

"No don't…" Morty exclaimed at the man. He was however, as he often was in these situations, too late. The man's hand closed around Anna Kyoyama's upper right arm and he pulled her to her feet.

Everything happened in a heart beet. At the instant, Anna's shoes touched the ground her eyes flashed open and her left hand came flying round, catching the man on his right cheek. The force of the blow sent the man's head into the wall and his grip on her arm released.

Free of the man's grip she seized her opportunity and dived for the cell door yelling. "COME ON MORTY!"

"OH SHIT!" Zhang yelled back as he fumbled for his taser. He was hopelessly too slow.

Literally, less than five seconds after having sent Chao into the wall Anna was upon him, and without breaking stride, knocked him to the floor with her trademark roundhouse. Racing beyond the man, her heart hammering, she ran for the door, not daring to look behind her even to check if the short shaman had followed. As she reached the door, her hand grasped the handle almost ripping the thing off as she threw it open.

Seeing the stairwell in front of her Anna bolted towards it grabbed the handrail and swung herself round and onto it. Higher and higher she went, taking the stairs two at a time, adrenaline pumping through her in a way it had never done before. As she turned the second corner and onto the third flight, she could see light, it was coming from an overhead strip light.

Reaching the top of the stairs Anna found herself in a room, which contained the van that she and Morty had been brought here in, and in front of it a shutter, a bright red shutter. That was all that separated her from the outside world, she was sure of it.

Running to it she hurriedly searched for a way to open it. After a moment that felt like an eternity her searching fingers closed on a rather large and rusty bolt at waist height, the only thing keeping the shutter locked. Taking a firm hold Anna struggled to pull it out of its housing. Panicking she tugged and tugged at the bolt, it would not budge under her nimble hands.

Frantic now, her eyes darted around the room searching for something, anything that she could use to help her shift the infernal thing. After a few seconds, she spied a heavy wrench sticking out of a toolbox. Racing to it, she hoisted it out of the box with both her hands. Another minute had to have passed by now… Darting back to the shutter, she raised the wrench and clattered it against the bolt, sending it out of its housing and onto the floor with a single swipe.

This was it! They were out! She bent down to raise the shutter. All she had to do was get outside and run. It did not even matter how far she got, as long as she got beyond the boundary of the dead zone. If she did that then it did not matter if the men followed her. She would summon her Shikigamis and they would take care of them. Failing that, she would at least be able to sense Yoh and he would be able to find her.

She could hear the pounding of feet on the stairs making a morbid harmony with the pulsation of her own blood in her ears. Applying as much force as she could, Anna threw the shutter up with a loud clatter and caught her first glimpse of the outside world in over thirty-six hours.


	15. Chapter 15

**Authors note**: Ok so here we are chapter 15 perfectly on time, for once. Thanks to Beaver and Maria for your reviews. With regards to the poo bit of the last chapter, I watched the latest episode of South Park (You're getting old) the night before I wrote that scene. After I had written it, I read it back and was like; yeah you totally took inspiration from that episode without even realising it. For those of you who have not watched this episode it is about getting old and becoming cynical, thus thinking that everything is now shit.

Ok all things poo related aside, I would like to make a brief note regarding this chapter. When I sat down to write this chapter I was unsure of how to do it, as the events are not very Shaman King like. So with that in mind I decided that the best way to do it was in a slightly tongue in cheek manner. I am not sure quite how well it has worked out and so ask that you just bare with me on this one. Those of you who have played certain video games (you will figure out which ones quite easily) may enjoy this slightly more than those who have not, so long as you take it in the aforementioned tongue in cheek manner.

Anyway, lets just get this thing over with. My thanks to Kovou for editing this for me and all reviews and things of the ilk are welcome.

I **don't** own Shaman King or the song Brown eyed girl.

**Chapter 15: Corridors, Crates and a Bridge**

Meanwhile back at the … Is a phrase that has been used by many writers, in countless works and over multiple decades, with the last word being open to any type of place you can think of. Often, for some unknown reason ranch seems to be the most popular of places to be back at meanwhile. In fact, the overuse of this phrase prompted one particular author, in his 'String of inopportune dealings' novella series, to make a joke out of it. Personally I think this is unfair, as it is not the phrases fault that it is overused, more the unimaginative authors fault for not coming up with something new. Therefore, with this in mind, I shall now attempt to describe what is currently happening to Yoh Asakura without using the phrase in question.

At about the same time as Mansumi was going for lunch, not clock time mind as we would have to take into account the whole time zone mess again, and while Anna Kyoyama was making a bid for freedom, on the other side of the world, or only a few hours away if you are Anna… Oh, fuck it this is going to get far too complicated far too quickly. *sigh* Meanwhile back at the sodden ranch Yoh Asakura had arrived at his destination.

He had enjoyed the rest of his ride just as much as the first part, even though he was now slightly saddle sore. He had parked the bike in a dark ally, chosen specifically by Len for its position, the reason being that from it Yoh would have a clear view of the building he was about to infiltrate but be far enough away from it so as not to arouse suspicion from anyone who left it. Finishing the job of protecting the bike from misappropriation, using the chains that had been provided in the sidecar, Yoh stood up from where he had been crouched at the bikes front tire. Having already split himself from the assassin ghost, to allow his Furyoku the chance to regenerate, the spiky haired shaman began to stretch his legs while he waited for instruction form Len.

"Ok Yoh" The Tao shaman eventually said. "Do you see those two buildings connected by an arched bridge?" He asked over the radio.

"Yeah" Yoh responded, straightening himself up and turning to face the buildings in question. "I'm looking at them right now." He continued eager to get on with the task.

"Good. The brothel is on the top floor of the building on the left, the floor with the bridge connected to it." Len began in his usual no nonsense tone. "Now from looking at the plans for this building I can tell you that there is no way to access the top floor from any of the lower floors. The only way in or out of that floor is via that bridge or the rooftop exit." He continued, sounding quite serious.

"Now I would bet there's at least one guard on that bridge. Even if I am wrong there will most definitely be someone waiting to greet people as they enter the brothel. Needless to say there is no way a teenager can get in undetected by going across that bridge." He finished, pausing to take a breath.

"Then how do I get in?" Yoh asked quizzically.

"Were you even listening to me Yoh? I already told you that there are two ways into that brothel, one across the bridge and the other via the roof." Len began, sounding slightly annoyed at having to repeat himself.

"What you need to do is go to the fifth floor of the building on the right hand side, cross the bridge and make your way onto the roof." He finished, his normal tone restored.

"But you said there was no way I couldn't get in without being seen if I crossed the bridge." Yoh protested, now completely lost.

"I did" Len began, sounding smug now. "Perhaps what I should have said is that you would not be crossing that bridge in the normal manner. Count the floors Yoh," He continued, sounding as though he had thought this plan through to the last detail, which he had of course.

Yoh looked confused but did as he was told. As his gaze shifted up to the fifth floor a grin spread across his face.

"You want me to walk across the roof of the bridge from the fifth floor of the first building and straight onto the roof of the brothel." He exclaimed, almost in awe of his friends, for want of a better word, genius.

"Bingo, perhaps you aren't as dense as you look Asakura." Len began; glad to have the brown haired shaman back on the same page as he was. "Once you are on the roof Mr Waters shouldn't have much difficulty in getting you inside and into the proprietor's office. There you should be able to find the information we require. However we have a slight problem" he went on, sounding serious once more.

"What is it?" Yoh asked, returning his gaze to ground level and putting a hand over his right ear as he listened.

"The problem is that the building on the left is a bar slash nightclub which is not owned by our friends the Havens. They simply have an arrangement with the owners that is mutually beneficial to both parties. From what I have been able to find out, I can tell you that it is not well known that there is a brothel connected to the premises, thus random patrons of the club must be prevented from getting close to it." Len answered; clearly, he had been very busy doing research on the place.

"So why is that a problem for us?" Yoh responded, not sure where his friend was going with this.

"It is a problem because according to the plans for the building, the only way to get to the fourth or fifth floors is via an elevator on the ground floor which does not stop on the floors in between. Now if you happened to be in the business of preventing random people from getting too close to your brothel it would make most sense to have the elevator guarded constantly. That way no one is ever going to manage to get onto the floor that provides access to it without your say so." The Tao shaman replied, sounding slightly concerned now.

"What we need to do is find out if I am right before you go in there. If I am then you are going to have to come up with some way of getting past whatever sort of guard is present." He concluded.

"No problem" Yoh responded, as though this was no big deal. "I have three ghosts with me. I'll just send one of them in to check it out for me." He finished, turning to face the assembled ghosts.

"Send both Amidamaru and Mosuke." Len began, slight disappointed that Yoh had stolen his thunder.

"Why do I need to send two of them?" Yoh asked, wondering if he had missed something again.

"We also need to know if there is anyone on the fifth floor who may be waiting for you when you get out of that elevator."

"Ok" Yoh replied. Then he looked up at the pair of guardian ghosts. "Amidamaru, Mosuke. I need the two of you to go into that building on the right there and find out if there is someone guarding the elevator from the ground to the fourth and fifth floors and if there is anyone of the fifth floor. Can you do that for me?" He asked, already knowing that they would agree without question.

"Of course we will Yoh." Amidamaru replied, looking at his shaman with a smile on his face. "I will take the elevator..."

"And I will take the fifth floor" Mosuke added.

"Thanks guys. I don't know what I would do without you" Yoh replied in a grateful manner.

"We will not be long" Mosuke said as the two ghosts floated off towards the building at speed.

Yoh watched them as they went. Amidamaru headed straight ahead and entered the building at ground level, while Mosuke floated up to the fifth floor before disappearing through the wall.

"You treat them as though they are your friends." Mr Waters suddenly said, once again causing Yoh to jump as his chilly voice filled his ears. After a moment, Yoh recomposed himself and turned his attention to the assassin spirit.

"That's because they are my friends" He replied, even though it had been more of a statement than a question.

"You are unlike any other shaman that I have met Yoh Asakura." The ghost continued.

"That's because you haven't met any shaman other than the Tao's. There a bit slow when it comes to changing their ways." He continued, laughing slightly as he did.

"So we are slow are we" Len cut in, offended by the remark. "Well your one to talk Asakura. If it had not been for my quick mind and wit, you would have fallen flat on your face a long time ago." He finished, fully intending to uphold his honour.

Yoh almost burst out laughing as he heard the voice of the indignant Chinese shaman in his ear; he had completely forgotten that Len could hear every single word that came out of his mouth.

"Heh Heh Heh sorry buddy I didn't mean it." He began, still laughing slightly. "What I was away to say was that things have started to change since you became head of the family." He finished, sounding slightly apologetic as he did.

"Oh you will be, don't worry about that Asakura. When I next see you, I'm going to beat your backside so hard with a stick that Anna is going to be removing the splinters with a pair of fine tweezers for an entire week." He declared, intending to carry out his promise. "Anyway it is not an easy task trying to change the ways of a family who have been stuck in the dark ages for hundreds of years." He finished, his voice returning to normal.

"I know buddy. You're doing a good job though" Yoh replied, contemplating whether or not Anna would just send him to Faust to have the splinters removed rather than do it herself.

"Yes well enough of that we have more important things to deal with." Len replied, putting all thoughts of Yoh's backside into the, do not forget to deal with later, part of his mind. "Now are you all set to go once Amidamaru and Mosuke return?" he asked.

"Almost" Yoh replied fishing in the sidecar for the utility belt he had been given as he did.

Finding said belt Yoh pulled it out and proceeded to fasten it around his waist. Glancing back at his sword, which he would have to leave behind, he felt slightly unsure about what he was about to do. This was completely different to anything he had ever attempted to do in the past. If he were so much as seen by anyone in there, he would risk making the rest of his task even harder than it already was.

Looking at himself Yoh was slightly shocked at how much he resembled the assassin spirit in his current get up, the only difference being his lack of a facemask and night vision goggles. It was not difficult though he supposed, for two people to look similar when they were both dressed all in black with a belt round there waist and a gun hanging from it.

The gun. Now that was weird. True Len was right in that it would be more helpful to pacify someone without killing them or making much noise, but he would still have been more comfortable with his sword. Hell he had never even held a gun before tonight, let alone pointed one at someone and pulled the trigger. Good thing it was only tranquilizer darts it used, as he was sure he would have been unable to do it otherwise he thought, as he looked down at the unfamiliar weapon.

How did you even use one of these things he wondered? He had never been one for ranged weapons, owing to the fact that his guardian ghost was a samurai and samurais worked best with swords, but even if he had it probably would not have done him much good, bows and the ilk were completely different from modern firearms.

To be honest it did not matter if he did not know which way up the gun should be. As soon as he was in spirit unity with Mr Waters it would be like he had been shooting them all his life, such was a shamans ability to use the skills of a spirit they were in unity with. Before he could contemplate matters any further, his attention was distracted by the return of the guardian ghosts. As the ghostly forms of Amidamaru and Mosuke, floated back towards him Yoh put all thoughts relating to the firearm out of his mind.

"It appears that Len was correct Yoh." Amidamaru began, looking slightly concerned. "There are two guards standing outside the elevator on the ground floor." he continued.

"But there is absolutely no one on the fifth floor" Mosuke added, pleased that he had at least managed to bring back some good news.

"Thanks guys" Yoh replied. "Looks like you were right Len. There are guards at the elevator but no one on the fifth floor." He continued, speaking directly to the Tao shaman who was on the other end of the radio.

"As I thought." Len responded, his voice slightly grave in tone. "Do me a favour and take the headset off and for a moment so I can speak to and hear everyone." He instructed.

"Ok guys gather round." Yoh said to the ghosts as he removed the headset and held it out. The three ghosts obliged and gathered round the headset in a tight circle.

"Ok can you all here me?" Len asked the group.

"Yes" chorused the group of one shaman and three ghosts.

"Good. This will save a lot of time and hassle". Len continued. "Now Amidamaru what was it like in there? Were there a lot of people around?" Len asked the samurai.

"Yes. There were a large number of people in the club part however not many people through the back towards the elevator. Perhaps only three or four, not including the two guards, and they all seamed to be heading somewhere specific. None of them were armed in any way that I could tell." The samurai answered in his normal steady tone.

"Good. Hopefully with you and Mosuke keeping a close watch around the corners and through the walls Yoh will be able to avoid anyone who happens to be wandering around." Len responded, sounding slightly more optimistic. "What about the corridor where the elevator is situated?" He continued.

"It's at the top of a T-shaped corridor. There are only two doors leading off from it at the bottom end, one of which is connected directly to the club. At the top end there are a number of crates and boxes strewn around each side and it is quite poorly lit." Amidamaru responded, hoping that what he had discovered would be helpful.

"What do you think Mr Waters?" The Tao shaman asked apparently satisfied with what Amidamaru had told them.

"Heh. Why are these sorts of places always so untidy? Are they always trying to make my job easier." The assassin replied, a streak of amusement appearing in his cold voice. "I will find a way through." He finished, the glee vanishing from his voice as quickly as it had come.

"How do you intend to distract the guards at the elevator?" Len continued to probe, wanting to know as much of the assassins plan as he could.

"I do not yet know. You cannot plan every step of these kind of operations beforehand Master Len. You often just have to make it up as you go along. If it comes down to it, I will tranquilize them both, remove the darts and punch them a couple of times. If they are found, we may just get lucky in that whoever finds them will believe that they have had a fight and knocked each other out." He concluded, in his cold monotone.

"Well making it up as you go along should suit Yoh just fine" Len responded, not quite convinced with the ghosts logic.

"Heh Heh Like I always say, it'll work out" Yoh provided helpfully.

"I hope so" Len replied, for once not poking fun at his friend's motto. "Now you had better go. The best way in for you should be through the back door where I assume that they take in deliveries; it should be on the side of the building that you are currently facing. Now once you are inside I will keep quite and let Mr Waters and the other ghosts guide you. Let me know once you are in the elevator or if you need me for anything else." He continued, sounding as though this was not a new thing for him to be doing. "Good luck Yoh" he added, before falling silent.

"Thanks Len" Yoh replied as he placed the headset back on his head. "Ok guys are we ready?" He said, more as a statement than a question.

"WATERS. SPIRIT FORM… UNITY" Yoh shouted as, for the second time, he grabbed the spirit ball form of the assassin ghost and merged it with himself.

"Let's go" the hybrid voice of Yoh and Mr waters said to the other ghosts as he stepped out of the ally and began to cross the road.

Turning to look at each other the two guardian ghosts nodded to each other in agreement and followed the young shaman across the road and onto the sidewalk.

The alley Yoh had parked in was on the corner of an L shaped road. From it, he had been able to look straight down the rest of the road, which was then ended by another road going across it. The pair of buildings he was currently walking towards were exactly across from the road he was currently walking down, had this road continued it would have passed under the bridge that connected them.

Ghosts in toe the young shaman made his way down the rest of the road and stopped at the end of it. Glancing to either side, he could clearly see that there was no one around. Perfect the part of his mind that was now Mr Waters thought as he quickly made his way across and towards the building to his right.

In the wall of the building was a grey metal shutter beside which sat a door of the same material. Len had been right about this being the delivery entrance at least he thought as he beckoned the ghosts to come closer.

"Amidamaru" he said, his voice still a mix of his own and the assassin spirits. "Put your head through here and tell me if there is someone on the other side." He whispered, pointing to the door as he did.

Amidamaru nodded his head and promptly poked it through the metal door. After a few seconds, he withdrew it and replied.

"The room is empty." The samurai replied, still not used to the fact that Yoh was in unity with another ghost. "There is also no light on." He finished.

On hearing that the room was empty Yoh took hold of the handle and turned it. Locked he said to himself, not surprised in the slightest. As though this was just a trivial annoyance the spiky haired shaman put his hand into one of the pouches of his belt and pulled out a set of lock picks.

"Never leave home without them." The assassin spirit told Yoh as he produced them.

The part of his mind that was still himself just watched on as he felt his own body unroll the kit and quickly inspect the lock. Selecting an appropriate pick and torsion wrench, he proceeded to feel his own hands slot the tools into the lock and expertly begin to pick it. After almost no time a faint click came from the lock as it opened. Satisfied with his work he then quickly replaced the tools and opened the door.

Stepping into the dark room Yoh quietly closed the door behind him. As he did, the room suddenly became a lot darker, the only light now coming from the gap underneath another door, and the small amount emitted by the two ghosts.

"Do you know the way to the elevator corridor from here?" Yoh asked the samurai.

"Yes I entered through this room earlier. Once I had found the elevator I thought it would be useful to know how to get there from hear." The samurai replied, not happy with the way his shamans voice had been distorted by the assassin ghosts.

"Good. I need you to lead me there." Yoh responded, and then turned to Mosuke. "Mosuke I need you to keep ahead of us and warn me if there is anyone around, however do not shout. I do not want to run the risk of anyone in here having the ability to hear ghosts. It doesn't matter if they see you as you could just be a random ghost passing through, but if they hear you shout a warning to me they will know I am here." He finished in a low voice.

"I understand Lord Yoh" the blacksmith replied. "I shall not fail you." He added; ready to do what ever it took to get them closer to finding Morty.

Making his way towards the other door Yoh looked at the two ghosts and indicated for them to do as they had been instructed. At this indication, Mosuke floated through the door quickly followed by Amidamaru. After a few moments the samurai popped his head back through.

"The coast is clear." he whispered, before withdrawing his head.

Reaching the door the brown haired shaman searched for the handle. Upon finding it, he opened the door softly and slipped out of it, closing it in the same manner that he had opened it.

The corridor he found himself in now was dimly lit. Multiple doors led to multiple other rooms. To his right the corridor took a ninety-degree turn and continued in the direction he was currently facing.

"Which way do I go now?" He asked the samurai.

"Follow this corridor." Amidamaru replied as he tried to remember every turn that he had taken to get here from the elevator. "The last door on the left should lead you out of this part of the building." He finished.

On hearing the last of the directions, Yoh turned to his right and lightly began jogging along the corridor, following it around to his left when it turned. As he reached the door Amidamaru had told him about Mosuke poked his head through it, obviously having already received the same directions.

"The next room is empty but there is someone in the corridor beyond it." He said, sounding slightly worried.

"Don't Worry" Yoh replied, seeing the look on the blacksmiths face. "I'll get past him if I need too." He finished, opening the door as he did so.

Entering the room Yoh looked around him. The room was dimly lit by a single bulb dangling from a wire in the centre of the roof. In the centre of the room was a set of wooden benches arranged in a U shape; while around the walls were a collection of…

"Lockers" Yoh said aloud, to no one in particular. "Seriously? I thought they only had a room full of lockers this size in video games." He continued, slightly amused.

Circling the set of benches Yoh made his way to the door, which was in the opposite corner to the one he had just entered. As he reached it, Mosuke floated past him and back to check on where the person he had saw was in relation to the room the shaman was currently occupying.

"Where next?" Yoh asked the remaining ghost, as he waited for Mosuke to return.

"This room leads out into a large corridor that goes in multiple directions. Go right when you exit this room and go straight ahead, then take another right and follow it round until it ends. There is a door there which leads to the next corridor." Amidamaru replied. Before he could continue though Mosuke's head appeared through the door.

"Yoh!" the blacksmith exclaimed, trying to keep his voice down. "The person in the corridor looks like they're about to come in here" he continued

"What do I do?" Yoh asked Mr Waters in his head.

"Find an empty locker and hide in it" The assassin ghost responded.

"You have got to be kidding me." Yoh thought as he quickly began trying to open the lockers, eventually the fourth one on the wall beside the door opened. Climbing inside he managed to get the door closed just as he heard the door to the room swing open.

It was cramped inside the locker, and dark. Through a small vent, conveniently placed at head height Yoh was able to watch the man who had entered the room. Pulling off a tie and throwing it on one of the benches the man proceeded to remove his red waistcoat and white shirt before moving towards a locker on the opposite wall from the one Yoh was currently hiding in.

Yawning, the man opened his locker and removed a set of cloths and a pair of trainers. Carrying them back to where he had abandoned what must have been his work uniform the man finished undressing himself and pulled a tin of deodorant out from inside one of his shoes. Spraying himself from head to toe, he then placed the aerosol beside his work cloths and began dressing himself in a pair of blue jeans and a red checked shirt. Once done he sat down on the bench and pulled on his trainers, first the left then the right.

Picking up his work trousers then man quickly transferred the contents of their pockets to the pockets of his jeans. Now satisfied that he had every item from the black trousers, he then picked up the aerosol and placed it inside one of his work shoes. Scooping up the rest of his scattered work cloths the man lazily walked back to the locker and dumped them inside, slamming the door shut on them. Turning back around the man wasted no time in leaving the room, clearly he had no intention in hanging around his place of work any longer than he had to.

Breathing a huge sigh of relief Yoh quietly spoke to Amidamaru.

"Make sure he isn't about to come back in" he whispered, not wanting to be caught out by a forgetful barman. After about a minuet, Amidamaru stuck his head into the locker, causing Yoh to nearly hit his head on the top of it as he jumped.

"It's ok he's gone" The samurai said.

On hearing this Yoh gingerly pushed the locker door open and stepped back into the room. Closing the door to the locker he proceeded to stretch himself off, it really had been a tight squeeze inside, something he did not want to have to repeat any time soon. Moving back towards the door Mosuke, who must have followed the man out, floated through the wall.

"It's all clear." Mosuke said as he went back the way he had just come.

Opening the door Yoh stepped out into another corridor, this one was almost identical to the one he had been in previously. Like its predecessor, this one was lit by a series of strip lights that were hanging on thin cables from the ceiling. The walls had nothing on them to cover their cold stone surfaces, unless you counted the patches of damp that was apparent in multiple places.

Cautiously Yoh made his way through this corridor, following the directions he had been given by his guardian ghost. Why was this place so big? He thought to himself as he past multiple doors. Surely, a nightclub did not need such a large backroom area. As if on cue, Mr Waters's thoughts drifted through their shared mind.

"You are correct to question why this place is so big." Mr Waters told him. "Clearly there is something else going on here beside just a nightclub being run. However it has nothing to do with why we are here so let us forget about it and concentrate on the task at hand" He finished, considering the matter closed.

Reaching a junction Yoh turned to his right and continued to follow the corridor around until he reached a set of double doors. Passing through them, he turned the corner and was greeted by Mosuke.

"Beyond the three rooms on your right there is a man approaching. The two doors on this corridor lead into the first two rooms while access to the third room is via the second room. There is also a door between the first and second rooms. I do not know which way he is headed." Mosuke said hurriedly, slightly panicked by the uncertainty of the man's movements.

"Do not worry. To get to here he will have to enter the second room. When he does, tell me if he is headed towards the door to the first room or the door to this corridor. Whichever way he decides to go I'll take the opposite route and avoid him." Yoh replied, attempting to calm the ghost.

"Yes ok that sounds like a good idea" Mosuke replied floating over to the door to the second room as he did so.

Yoh watched as the blacksmith put his head through the door. Moving so he was halfway between the two doors, he waited. Eventually from inside the second room he could just make out the sound of a door opening, the man must now be in the room he thought. A few seconds after he heard the door opening Mosuke came back through the door.

"He is headed this way." he said, a sense of urgency about his voice.

On hearing this Yoh lightly but briskly made his way back to the door to the first room. Praying that it wasn't locked he griped the handle in his right hand, pulled it down and gently pushed.

Slowly the door opened however not without making a rather audible squeak. Cursing the hinges, Yoh quickly entered the room. Hopefully the man in the other room had not heard, or did not care that someone had opened the door to this room. Spying the door on the far left hand corner, he made his way over to it, attempting to make as little noise as was humanly, or in this case shamanly possible. Pausing at the next-door Yoh waited for what seamed like an age before the blacksmith eventually appeared.

"Its ok he has left the room" Mosuke said, sounding slightly calmer now.

"Go on ahead" The shaman responded as he opened the door.

The blacksmith complied and floated on ahead as Yoh made his way through the door and into yet another room. This time the next door was directly in front of him, and still open, clearly the man had not bothered to shut the thing behind him. Through the open door, he could see straight into the next room and to the third door that was inline with the other two.

Cautiously, the spiky haired shaman made his way straight through the second room and right across the third to the last of the three doors. As he waited once more for Mosuke to return he turned to his guardian ghost.

"Where do I go from here?" He asked the samurai.

"From here there are only two rooms between us and the elevator corridor" The samurai replied, sounding rather proud at his capacity to remember the route perfectly. As he finished Mosuke floated back into the room.

"The next two rooms are clear but there are currently three men talking beside the elevator." The blacksmith said as he came to a halt.

Yoh nodded in response and opened the third door. The next room was full of cardboard boxes and wooden crates. Stacked one on top of the other the large assortment of crates and boxes practically filled the room from top to bottom, left to right and back to front. In fact, the room was so full that there was only one, rather narrow, zigzag path through to the other side.

"What is all this stuff?" Yoh thought as he slowly made his way between the crates.

"I do not know but I would imagine it has something to do with what really goes on here." Mr Waters answered. "We must not delay though. The blacksmith told us there are currently three men at the elevator so it may take us some time to get past them." He finished.

Eventually reaching the other side of the room Yoh found the door. Pushing it open, he entered the penultimate room. Lit by a single bulb this room appeared to contain the overspill from the previous room, as there were some crates and boxes here also. Spotting the door in the bottom corner Yoh picked his way between the boxes and proceeded towards it. Before he could reach it however, Mosuke flew through the wall and came to an abrupt halt between Yoh and the door.

"One of the men is heading this way." he almost shouted, sounding frantic, clearly still not used to the situation they currently found themselves in.

"What do I do?" Yoh thought, glancing around the room.

"Above us there is an air duct." Mr Waters began, as though there was nothing of importance going on. "Stack one of these crates on top of another. Then use them to climb on top of it." He continued.

As the assassin ghost replied Yoh had already begun to lift the crate, spirit unity had a habit of making you to do something that you might not even know to do yet.

"You have got to be kidding me" Yoh thought as he struggled to shove the crate he was holding on top of the one he had been told to, slash already new to, put it on.

"It's either this or we try and hide in one of those cardboard boxes." Mr Waters replied, as he did the box slid into place.

Without even thinking Yoh jumped up and caught hold of the top of the crate, he had just finished lifting. Hoisting himself up he got to his feet, and without even pausing for breath jumped up and off the stacked crates.

For a split second, Yoh travelled through the air before his outstretched hands caught hold of the top of the air duct. Struggling against gravity, which was intent on pulling him back down to the floor, he pulled himself up and onto the long, cuboid shaped, air duct. Just as he managed to swing his trailing leg onto the thing, the door to the room opened and a gruff looking man stepped into it.

Holding his breath Yoh waited, trying not to move a single muscle. Slowly but surely he could hear the man's heavy footsteps get closer and closer and closer until he was literally right bellow him. After a split second in which his nerves spiked he relaxed as the man's footsteps began to move away from him and towards the door, never changing pace. Another thirty seconds and it was over. The man had opened the door, walked through it and then closed it behind him.

"That was close" Yoh thought, his heart rate quickly returning to normal. "Lucky this duct was up here as I don't think I would have fit in one of those boxes." His thought train continued.

"They shouldn't be here." Mr Waters said to him. "These are industrial sized vents. Not something you should find in a supposed nightclub. From their presence I can only assume that this building has been used in the manufacture of something, most likely a drug of some sort, which has required an industrial sized extraction system." He continued. Before he could say any more on the matter Amidamaru floated up beside them.

"That man was one of the people who was guarding the elevator when I first found it." The samurai began. "I would wager good money that the other was the man we avoided back in the corridor. They must have changed the guards." He finished.

"What now?" Yoh thought to himself.

"The elevator corridor must run the length of this room at least if it is as the samurai described. Since the only doors into it are at the same end, both guards attention will be focused towards them, meaning that if we open the door from this room they will notice it instantly. What would be ideal would be to find another way in." Mr Waters replied in his usual voice.

"But Amidamaru said there are only two doors. How else will we be able to get in?" Yoh asked, already sensing that the assassin had an idea.

"From what we have seen these air ducts run throughout most of this building. If we are lucky they will also run through the corridor next door and there will be a grate we can exit from." The assassin replied, as he did Yoh turned to face the samurai.

"You said that there were more boxes scattered in the top two corners of the corridor and that it was not very well lit." Yoh asked his guardian ghost.

"Yes that is correct." Amidamaru replied.

"Good. I need you to check for me whether or not part of the air ducts pass through it and if there is a grate, through which I can get out." Yoh continued, sounding if he new exactly what he was doing, which part of him actually did. "If there is I need you to follow the ventilation duct and find a rout for me from there to here." He finished.

"At once Lord Yoh." The samurai replied, floating off to the next room once he had.

"Ok now you have to be kidding me." Yoh thought, not believing what he had just said. "I thought this sort of stuff only happened in video games and movies. And how do you even know these ducts run through the other rooms we have been in?" He asked the assassin spirit.

"Because we have seen them." Mr Waters replied simply.

As he heard the ghost's reply Yoh thought back to there journey so far. He had in fact seen them and not even realised he had been looking at them. He had deliberately looked at multiple things he would not normally have paid attention to, and he had not even realised he was doing it. If someone were to ask him about each of the rooms he had been in he would probably have been able to give them an accurate description.

"You are not used to looking at your surroundings as closely as you have tonight." The assassin added the slight streak of amusement once again present in his voice. "If you had been doing this sort of thing for as long as I have the cardboard boxes and air ducts of your video games would seem rather tame in comparison to some of the things I have had to do in the past." He finished, ending with the smallest hint of a chuckle.

"The air ducts continue through into the corridor next door and there is a way out of them." A voice said from behind Yoh, causing him to almost fall off the duct he was crouched on.

"Amidamaru!" Yoh exclaimed, slightly louder than he had intended. "Don't sneak up on me like that." He finished, calming down slightly as he turned to face his partner.

"Sorry Yoh I must have misjudged the distance. The inside of these air ducts can be quite deceptive." The samurai replied apologetically.

"It's ok buddy." The spiky haired shaman replied. "Looks like we're going through the air ducts." He finished.

Crawling forwards on all fours Yoh made his way to the grated hatch near the end of the vent. Taking hold of one of the bars, he pulled upwards and felt the grate move up and to his left. Once it was fully open, the young shaman slid himself forwards, head first into the air duct.

It was cramped, cramped and dark inside the air duct. The brown haired shaman had very little space in which to move, restricted to moving forwards or backwards, and fairly slowly at that. The lack of light was also a problem; he could barely see his hands in front of him.

"Amidamaru. Mosuke." He called to the two ghosts. "I need the two of you to lead me as I can't see where I am going." He said, his voice echoing down the duct, he would have to keep his voice down while in here or someone on the outside might hear him.

"Do not worry Yoh." The samurai began, appearing in front of him, allowing Yoh to see slightly further in front of him. "We shall guide you through." He finished, as Mosuke promptly joined him inside the duct.

Slowly but surely Yoh began to crawl his way forward through the duct, following the dim light cast by the two ghosts in front of him. After he had gone a few feet he soon realised there was a problem, he was making enough noise for anyone who could potentially be in the room bellow him to hear him. Cursing under his breath, he stopped. He would have to come up with a quieter way of moving he thought, or attract the attention of every guard, waiter or patron who passed underneath.

Eventually, after some prompting from the assassin ghost, Yoh stretched himself out, with his arms in front of him, and lay flat. Lifting his feet so that they were not touching any part of the duct walls, the spiky haired shaman began to exert some pressure on the base of the duct with his hands and forearms. Slowly he slid himself forward until his head was level with his hands.

Satisfied that this method was going to make considerably less noise Yoh stretched his arms out in front of him again and repeated the movement. Now moving at an even slower pace than before the shaman, come espionage expert, made his way along the ventilation duct. One thing was certain, he thought as he moved forward another foot, and he was going to have the friction burns from hell by the time he got out.

After a while, during which he had had to negotiate a couple of corners in the air duct, Yoh began to hear the thud thud thud of what sounded like dance music. I must almost be above the club now he thought as he continued to slide himself through the air duct. The further we went the louder the music became and then he noticed something else; he could feel hot air being blown in his direction.

"Why is there hot air being blown through here?" He thought, the music now sounding as though it was directly beneath him now.

"They must be using these vents to blow hot air into the club." Mr Waters responded much in the same way he had to Yoh's earlier thoughts about the place.

"But why?" Yoh replied, slightly confused as to what purpose this would serve.

"If they keep the room temperature high people begin to sweat more and become dehydrated. The more that happens the more they will buy drinks to try to cool themselves off. Crude but effective." The ghost finished. As he did, they reached a fork in the duct.

"Which way now?" Yoh whispered to Amidamaru.

"Right." The samurai responded.

Following his partners' direction Yoh squeezed himself round the corner, with difficulty, and began to make his way along yet another part of the air ducts. A few feet in front of him, he could see flashing light entering the duct from bellow. As he passed over it, Yoh was able to look down through the grate and see the people dancing bellow, who were all blissfully unaware of his presence above them.

After a few more minutes of sliding, the music began to fade slightly as he left the room.

"We're just entering the elevator corridor now." Amidamaru said in a quiet tone, as though the guards down bellow may have been able to here him had he spoken any louder. "The exit grate is on the top of the duct just around this next corner." He finished.

Relived that he was almost out Yoh continued forward, trying to make as little noise as possible. Turning the final corner, he could just make out the exit grate a few feet ahead of him. Slowly he made his way towards it. As he came under it, he twisted his body around so that he was now lying on his back and looking up through the grate. Slowly he raised his hands to the grate and took hold of the bars. Exerting as little force as he possibly could he pushed upwards and began to open the grate. Fortunately, due to the club being on the other side of the wall, he could still hear the music coming from it and it was just loud enough to mask the slight squeak that came from the grate as he pushed it all the way open.

Pausing for a moment to ensure that the guards had not noticed Yoh then proceeded to bring himself into a sitting position. After a second pause, he then brought his knees towards his chest then placed his hands on the edge of the duct that was in front of him. Putting his weight down on his feet, he gradually began to raise himself out of the air duct and into a standing position.

Once on his feet Yoh turned himself around and quietly bought himself down on top of the air duct so he was now kneeling on it. Cautiously he turned round again and quietly lowered the grate back into place. Turning back for the final time, he brought himself to his feet and crouched down as low as he could then began to tip toe his way along the air duct, pausing every few steps to ensure the guards had not heard him.

As he reached the top end of the corridor, the vent split in two, one-part continuing in each direction of the corridor. Looking down from his position Yoh could see the two guards standing in front of the elevator. As expected there gaze was focused down the corridor towards the two doors. Looking to either side, he could see some crates scattered around both sides of the T-shaped corridor. Due to the only source of light being two strip lights down beside the doors, the corners were quite dark.

Turning to his left, the spiky haired shaman continued to tip toe along the top of the air duct. As he reached the end he looked down to inspect the arrangement of the crates. Right in the corner, almost in total darkness were two crates, one on top of the other, with a third behind them.

"Perfect." Mr Waters said to him, as he lowered himself into a sitting position, his legs now dangling a foot above the stacked crates. Slowly but surely Yoh lowered himself down onto the top of the two crates. As his feet met the top of the crate there was a slight creak as it began to take his weight, the guards didn't even bat an eyelid. Putting the rest of his weight down he slid himself off the air duct and fully onto the top of the sturdy wooden box. Not wanting to hang about Yoh then proceeded to lower himself down onto the third crate and from there the floor.

Shrouded in darkness the boy snuck forwards and hid himself behind another crate. What should he do now? He thought as he peeked over the top of the box at the two guards. One of them was large and gruff looking with muscles the size of Morty, while the other was much younger looking and a lot thinner.

"Perhaps you should throw something to distract their attention." Mosuke offered helpfully in a whispered voice.

"What was that?" One of the guards suddenly exclaimed.

Yoh froze; he had not made any noise or heard anything bar... Mosuke. Had one of the guards actually heard Mosuke? He looked at the two ghosts both of whom had expressions on their faces that said exactly the same thing as he himself was thinking, did one of these men have some sort of sixth sense.

##

Before we go any further here, I would like to make an important point regarding the sixth sense. The name sixth sense is misleading in that it implies that it is only one sense when in reality there is actually three parts to it. For now, let us refer to them as second sight, second hearing and second touch.

If we were to take three people with different levels of sixth sense and put a ghost in front of them, what we may find is something like this. Person one may be able to see, hear and touch the ghost, whereas Person two may be able to see and hear it but not touch it, while person three may only be able to here the ghost.

What this means then is that, depending on how strong a persons sixth sense is, there are three different levels on which they may be able to detect a ghost or other spiritual entity. Concerning Yoh Asakura, this fact is going to help him greatly in his attempt to access the elevator he so desperately needs to get into.

After a silent conversation, Yoh and his companions had agreed on a course of action. Floating out from the corner of the room Amidamaru proceeded to hover in front of both guards faces, waving his hand across their faces as he did. Nothing, clearly the one who had heard Mosuke possessed that ability and nothing more.

Watching the samurai float off down towards the doors Yoh waited. This was exactly as he had hoped things would turn out. If one of the guards had been able to hear Mosuke then surely he would hear Amidamaru when he said something from the other end of the corridor. If the samurai then continued to speak in a loud enough voice hopefully, it would be enough for the guard to drag his comrade down to the other end of the corridor, allowing him enough time to sneak into the elevator. After a few moments, Yoh heard his partner say something from down the corridor.

"Can you hear me?" The samurai called out.

"There it was again." The same guard who had spoken earlier said.

"What are you talking about?" The other replied, clearly he was unable to hear anything.

"There was a voice earlier and there it was again. I'm sure of it." The first man responded.

"You did hear a voice, my voice." Amidamaru continued.

"There's someone down there." The first guard said on hearing the apparently disembodied voice again. "Who ever you are show yourself." He then shouted down the corridor.

"Make me." The samurai answered in a threatening voice. "Or are you a chicken?" he asked, hopping that the man would take the bait.

"Who are you calling chicken?" The man shouted back. The other man just stared at him.

"Who on earth do you think you are talking to?" the second man demanded.

"You. You big fat chicken." Amidamaru shouted back at the man.

"That's it your for it." The first man shouted back then he turned to the second man. "Come on let's teach this punk a lesson." He said to the bewildered man.

"But I can't here anything or see anyone." The second man protested.

"He must be hiding behind one of those crates or behind one of the doors." The first man replied as he began walking towards where he had heard Amidamaru's voice come form. "Come on." He shouted when he realised that the other man hadn't moved.

Yoh watched as the large man grabbed hold of the young man's arm and hauled him forward. As the two left his sight he slowly crept out from where he had been hiding and slowly moved towards the elevator, his own quiet footsteps being masked by the heavy ones of the two guards. Cautiously approaching the elevator Yoh glanced down the corridor at the two men, they were halfway down.

"Bring it on." Amidamaru said as he saw Yoh appear beside the elevator.

Reaching out a hand Yoh gently touched the button beside the doors and prayed that the elevator was already on the ground floor.

"Come on chicken." Amidamaru goaded further, in an attempt to keep the full attention of the big man, and by proxy the smaller man, on him.

"DON'T CALL ME CHICKEN!" The man roared, just as the elevator doors slid open.

Wasting no time Yoh stepped inside the elevator and hit the button labelled five. Pressing himself against the side, just in case one of the men should turn round, he waited what seamed like an age for the doors to close. As soon as they did, the Japanese shaman let out a long breath, as the elevator began to rise towards the fifth floor.

"I'm in the elevator." Yoh said softly, as Amidamaru floated up to join him.

"Good work Yoh." Len replied, sounding as though it had only been mere minuets since they had last spoken. "By the sounds of things you had a rather eventful journey." The Tao shaman continued with genuine interest.

"I'm sure I'll get round to telling you all the details later." The brown haired shaman replied, as he did the elevator came to a sudden stop and the doors opened. "Looks like I'm on the fifth floor now." He continued, poking his head out of the elevator and glancing around as he did.

"Ok. You need to find a window that is close to the bridge." Len said, adding a mental note about asking Yoh the details of his journey to the same box he had placed the earlier one about Yoh's backside.

"Got it." Yoh replied as he stepped out of the elevator.

"This way Lord Yoh." Mosuke called to him from across the hallway. "I can lead you to the bridge." The blacksmith finished.

"Lead on Mosuke." Yoh responded as he turned to follow the blacksmith.

It did not take nearly as long for Yoh to negotiate the fifth floor as it had the ground, owing to the fact that there was absolutely no one around and there was a lot less rooms up here. After only a few minuets, he could see the bridge through one of the windows. What he could also see was that the rain was now pouring down. That would make crossing the bridge a lot more dangerous he thought as he made his way into another room and towards a window that was conveniently placed above the bridge.

"Ok I've found a window above the bridge." Yoh told Len as he attempted to push it up.

"Good. Is that rain I hear?" Len asked quizzically.

"Yeah it's lashing down." Yoh answered as he forced the stiff window open; clearly, it had not been opened in a long time.

"Be careful and take your time crossing it Yoh." The Tao shaman responded, a hint of warning about his voice.

"Don't worry I'll be fine" Yoh responded in a reassuring manner.

Climbing out of the window Yoh lowered himself down the few feet between the bridge's roof and the window, landing on it with a slight thud. As he turned to face the other side, the wind blew a pile of large and heavy raindrops onto his face. Deciding that it may be safer to crawl across the bridge Yoh got down onto his hands and knees and slowly began to make his way to the other side of the wooden bridge, all the while being pelted with rain.

Completely drenched the young shaman stood up as he found himself on concrete. Spying the Stairwell Yoh ran towards it, every intention on getting back indoors as quickly as possible. Thunder cracked overhead as he reached the door. Grabbing the handle Yoh cursed as he discovered that the door was locked. Wasting no time, he reached for the set of lock picks and promptly began picking the lock. As the lock eventually gave he almost threw open the door just to escape the rain.

Now inside Yoh shut the door behind him and paused to gather his thoughts and shake some of the water out of his hair.

"Ok I'm now absolutely drenched but I'm inside the building." Yoh said, trying to shake off excess water from his cloths now.

"Excellent. I'll go offline again unless you need me." Len responded, showing no sign of sympathy for the fact that his friend had just got soaked.

"Ok." Yoh replied, slowly beginning to make his way down the stairwell.

As he made his way down the stairs, Mosuke and Amidamaru floated off in front of him to check the way ahead. At the bottom of the stairs was another door. Stopping behind it, Yoh waited for the ghosts to return. Five minuets past before they returned.

"We have checked the entire floor and as expected there is no sign of Lord Morty or Lady Anna. However we think we have found the proprietors office." Amidamaru said, proud of his latest handy work. "It is just at the end of this hallway." He finished.

"How can you be sure?" Yoh replied questioningly.

"It is the only room that bares any resemblance to an office on this floor." Mosuke put forward.

"Good enough for me." The brown haired shaman responded. "Is there anyone around?" He asked, slightly relived by the prospect of not having to make his way across to the other side of another building.

"Not that we saw." The samurai began. "There are guards at the entrance beside the bridge and there are multiple…" he paused as he searched for a word. "…people in many bedrooms on the other side of the building but no one here." He finished, sounding slightly optimistic about the whole situation.

"Ok. I'm going to head into the proprietors office. When I get there I need the two of you to keep a lookout in case he or anyone else approaches the office. With any luck, I will be able to get in and out without any hassle." Yoh said confidently.

Once he had finished relaying instructions to the pair of guardian ghosts Yoh opened the door and stepped into the hallway.

"It's the second door on your left." Amidamaru quickly said, realising that he had not already given a direction.

Wasting no time, Yoh walked down the hallway and into the proprietor's office. Shutting the door behind him Yoh glanced around the room. The room was not very big with most of the space being taken up by a large four-poster bed, clearly the proprietor liked a bit of his own girls company. Beside the bed, on the right hand side, was a small bedside cabinet. Directly across from the door sat a small desk with a large chair behind it. In the middle of the floor lay a rather shabby looking bear headed rug, a mere shadow of its former self. That was about it for the furniture. The only other thing of note in the office was the window that sat behind the desk.

Yoh made his way quickly across the room to where the desk sat, avoiding the filthy rug as he did. As he reached the desk, he took in its contents. On top of it sat an old computer, an old-fashioned brass-reading lamp and some basic stationary. Down the right hand side was a set of three drawers while on the left was a single cupboard.

Starting with the top drawer, Yoh pulled it open and began rummaging through its contents. The desks owner was not a very organised man he thought as he flicked through different bits of paper, looking for anything that looked like an address book. Roughly shoving the top drawer back into its housing he grabbed the handle of the second and pulled it open. Another five minuets of rummaging produced nothing. Becoming slightly worried now Yoh put the drawer back, just as Amidamaru came bursting into the room.

"Yoh" Amidamaru began, sounding slightly frantic. "There are people coming you have to find somewhere to hide." He finished in a deadly serious tone.

Glancing around the room Yoh darted from behind the desk and practically threw himself into the only hiding place available, under the four-poster bed. Heart racing Yoh held his breath as he waited for whoever it was to enter the room. Eventually the door to the room crashed against the wall and Yoh could hear voices enter the room.

"And You…" Yoh heard a voice sing. "…My brown eyed girl" It continued, it was a man's voice Yoh thought, and by the sounds of it its owner had had far too much to drink.

"Do you remember when, we used to sing." The man went on. "Sha La La La La La La La La La La Te Da." At this point Yoh thought he could make out a woman singing with him.

Looking out from his hiding place Yoh could see two pairs off feet stagger around the floor.

"Oh Harri…" The woman trailed off. As he continued to watch their legs, Yoh almost threw up as he saw the woman's dress and the man's trousers fall to their ankles.

At this point Amidamaru floated under the bed.

"Please tell me they are NOT about to do what I think they are about to do." Yoh said to his partner in a firm whisper.

"I am afraid so Yoh." The samurai responded. As he did, Yoh felt the mattress of the bed sink towards him as the couple threw themselves onto it.

Cursing both his bad luck and what he was about to have to sit through Yoh gently hit his head off the floor. This was surely without doubt the worst thing he would ever have to endure he thought as he tried to block out the sounds from the bed above him.


	16. Chapter 16

**Authors note**: Ok folks this I know this should have been posted on Friday so I apologise. However, in my defence, I went to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part two on Friday and was so disappointed that I completely forgot that I needed to post this.

On an unrelated mater, I think that it is interesting to note that when I came up with the idea for this story originally something stuck in my head about it taking 16 chapters to complete. Now that we are at chapter 16, I stand by my original conviction, had I not decided to change the plan somewhere around chapter 7. With that in mind, I would estimate that we are now roughly at the halfway point and that there should be roughly another 15 chapters to go.

As always thanks to my kind editor Kovou, who is somehow still able to put up with editing this for me. All reviews and comments are welcome as always. I hope you all enjoy.

I **don't** own Shaman King.

**Chapter 16: Suspense, Struggle and Screams. **

Suspense. As the oldest joke in the world would say, how do you keep and idiot in suspense? As for the answer to this joke, I hope none of you mind if I tell you later. As far as stories are concerned, whether it is a book, film, TV show or whatever, you really cannot beat a good bit of suspense. I am not kidding on this one folks you really can't. I tried it myself once, and ended up looking like Yoh after his attempt to beat the heat.

As you are all most likely well aware, suspense can be a downright annoyance sometimes or, more accurately, the way it is handled can be downright annoying. The worst people for this are authors. I am sure you have all had an experience where by you are reading a book and suddenly something happens and the suspense begins to build. As you slowly turn the page, you cannot take your eyes away from the printed text. By the time you reach the following page you are gripping the book more tightly and slowly bringing it closer to your face. Turn the page again and your eyes start to water, as you have not blinked for the past minuet. By now the suspense is almost killing you and you are just desperate to find out what is about to happen. As you reach the bottom of this page, you know you are only one line away from the climax….

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…. Then you turn the page again only to discover that that was the end of the chapter and the next chapter is about something completely different.

Having then sworn rather loudly and thrown the book across the room, you sit for a moment before getting up and fetching said book from where it has landed. Back in your seat, you find the start of the offending chapter and begin to read again, still very annoyed that the author has left you hanging. As you read this new chapter, which is always long, your mind slowly begins to focus on what is going on here. Then, after all that, if the author is feeling exceptionally cruel, they suddenly leave this chapter hanging. At this point, you are now going crazy, as you don't know what part of the story you want the next chapter to focus on, as you want to find out what happens in both parts at the same time.

So there we have it, a textbook example of what authors often do to create suspense in their works, and subsequently make their reader want to read on. However, what does this have to do with us? Well nothing really, I just thought it would be a good way to build up some more suspense before you all find out which of the two previous chapters I am about to follow up on, sorry folks couldn't resist.

It was dark outside. However, the fact that it was dark outside is of absolutely no importance to what is currently going on. The reason for this is that the person who we are interested in is not outside, and it is very important that we make that distinction.

As she threw the shutter up Anna caught her first glimpse of the outside world in over thirty-six hours. Panting slightly, as lifting the shutter had taken more energy than she had anticipated, she put one foot out of the door towards sweet freedom…

"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE BITCH OR THE BOY DIES!" a voice from behind her shouted.

Turning her head in the direction of the man's voice Anna saw him at the top of the stairs. In his left arm, he held a struggling Morty while in his right hand he held a gun. A gun that was pressed into Morty's right temple. She froze her expression pained.

On one hand she desperately wanted to run, the edge of the dead zone might only be a few feet away. On the other, it might not and the man looked as though he would pull the trigger if she moved anywhere he did not tell her to. She had no choice really; she could not risk Morty's life on the chance that the dead zone ended just in front of her.

Sighing in defeat, for she had been so close to being free, Anna turned her body around to face the man who had ordered her to stop. Slowly she brought her gaze and her hands, palms up, to meet his. On the way past she caught a glimpse of Morty's face, it bore a look she had seen before. It was the, this is all my fault I am so sorry, look with an added bit that said, just leave me and run. She could not do it though. She would never be able to live with herself if she let him die, just to try and save her own skin. No, he got out with her or she would stay, there was no choice in the matter.

As her eyes met those of the man's she was finally able to see his face in the light. He was of Chinese origin as expected, with a black goatee, medium length black hair and dark eyes. Add to that his black trousers and leather jacket, and he could probably have passed himself off as a member of Motorhead. As she continued to stare at him, her eyes were drawn to the bruising that had appeared on his left cheek, conveniently on top of the previous bruising he had sustained at her hands, perhaps she should have used her left hand and evened it out for him instead. From behind him, she could now hear the loud footsteps of the other man on the stairs. After a few moments, his head began to appear, followed quickly by the rest of his ugly bulk.

"Where is that fucking bitch? I'm gonna…" Anna never got to find out what he was going to do to her as the other man quickly cut him off.

"You're going to do nothing to her bar bring her back downstairs." The man began, not even turning to look at his comrade. "After you shut and lock that door." He finished, moving away from the top of the stairs so the other man could get past, never taking his eyes off Anna, or loosening his grip on Morty.

Grumbling under his breath about how it was the other man's fault for leaving the shutter unlocked, the man stomped up the last of the stairs and approached Anna. As he grabbed her right arm, in a similar fashion as he had before, she had to fight the urge to deal him another blow. Pulling her forward and away from the door his hand released her as he took hold of the shutter and hauled it down in one swift motion.

She watched as the man picked up the bolt and slid it back into its housing, her heart sinking when he picked up a sturdy padlock and snapped it shut through a hole in the bolt. As he turned his attention back to her, she composed herself in preparation of his grabby hands touching her once again. After only a few moments, his rough hand closed around her forearm for the third time in the past five minuets.

"Bring her down stairs and take her into our room while I lock this one back up." The man who held Morty said, gesturing to the boy in his arms as he did. "And if you had not been stupid and decided to let her loose she would never have gotten to the shutter which I forgot to lock. That makes it your fault." He finished, turning around and heading back downstairs, never lowering the gun that he still held into Morty's right temple.

Why was she being separated from Morty she thought? Were they to 'punish' her for her escape attempt? Alternatively, did they want her out of the way while they did something to Morty pertaining to there plan, whatever that may be. Either way it could not be good she thought as the man forced her forwards towards the stairs.

Down they went, him roughly pushing her down every step, even though there was no need. As long as that gun remained pointed at Morty's head, she would be compliant.

As they reached the bottom of the stairs she just had enough time to see the man who held Morty disappear back into the cell room before she was roughly shoved towards a door on the left hand side.

"Get in here." The man said to her in an annoyed tone, as he kicked the door open.

Receiving a hard shove on her back Anna staggered forward into the room. Looking around her she quickly assessed that this room was where the two men had been eating, sleeping and living in, however that thought came to her after the smell of the place had hit her. Never in her life had she smelt anything like this room, it was a revolting mix of sweat, tobacco, fresh beer, stale beer and curry, amongst other things she couldn't quite detect, and this was coming from a person who had spent the past two days living in a cell filled with damp and shaman excrement.

Hearing the door slam shut behind her Anna spun on her heel to face her captor. As she did, she caught sight of what looked like a window in the wall to her left. Risking a glance she turned her head slightly to look at it, she was right. On the other side, she could see Morty back in the cell and their other captor exiting the room. No wonder neither of these smelly men had bothered to stay in the room to ensure they did not do anything, they had not needed to. From the room they would have been able to watch everything that had transpired during the time she and Morty were alone. She flushed furiously remembering her need to relieve herself earlier during the day almost directly in front of the window it now seemed.

The sound of the door opening again brought her attention back to the matter at hand. The other man entered the room carrying one of the wooden chairs that he, the other man and the man who had long since left, had been sitting on while they waited for her and Morty to wake up. She barely had time to contemplate this new development as the man strode past her, placed the chair behind her, then grabbed her shoulders and pulled her down onto it.

As the man released his grip and turned away from her Anna quickly stood up and turned to face him, now that there was no immediate danger to Morty she had absolutely no intention of cooperating with these men, especially if they intended to be this rough about it.

"Hey bitch!" The man barked at her. "If I make you sit down you stay put! Got it?"

"No." Anna stated defiantly. "I sit down when I decide to sit down" she finished her usual demeanour and attitude fully restored.

Before the man could bark out a retort, and before Anna knew what was happening, she felt the firm grip of the other man on her upper arms. In a matter of seconds, she found herself facing the other way and looking into his cold eyes. A quick shove and she was back in the chair.

Not intending to sit for any length of time, she quickly tried to get to her feet again, only to have her hands pulled behind her by the first man. Panicked she tried to pull herself forward and release her hands from his grip to no avail as the man in front of her pushed her shoulders back effectively preventing her getting up.

She was forced to sit and struggle as they lashed a measure of coarse stiff material around her wrists. Her fingers brushed it as it drew tighter, rope. The human instinct of fight or flight kicked in then and she did the only other thing she could think off; she kicked her right foot out and caught the man who had pinned her shoulders straight in the ancestor's trinkets.

Letting out a howl like a wounded animal, which to Anna he was no better than, the man released her shoulders and stumbled to the floor.

"What Now!" The uninjured man shouted as he watched his partner collapse onto the floor and clutch at his crotch, clearly he had been to busy tying Anna up to notice her footwork.

As the first man continued to lie on the floor and groan, Anna felt the other man's grubby fingers release her now bound hands and watched as he walked tentatively over to his wounded comrade. Once again attempting to stand Anna realised that the man had been no fool, he had not only tied her wrists together but he had also tied them to the chair. Cursing him, she tried to find his knots. A futile attempt however as it soon became apparent he had had the foresight to bind her entire forearms together and knot the rope at the top, just out of her reach. Had he not, he would have experienced her footwork for himself as he was now bent over his partner with his back to her.

"Get up you idiot." The first man barked, pulling the other to his feet as he did.

"Urgh." The wounded man replied as he staggered slightly. "And I thought that bitches' hands were bad." He grumbled, managing to straighten himself slightly. "What do we do with her?" He then asked of the other man.

"Go and fill up the bucket with cold water and fetch the you know what." The bearded man who had held Morty said. As he finished the other man laughed.

"You're going to regret having just kicked me bitch." He said as he turned to face her, a horrid grin spreading across his face. As he stared into her eyes, Anna took in his features for the first time.

He was a man of about five foot ten she decided, with bulging muscles and an ugly face. Like his companion, he was of Chinese origin with dark brown eyes and dark hair shaved into a buzz cut. The bruise on his right cheek she resolutely decided, improved his facial features.

Not lingering any longer buzz cut turned and promptly left the room, leaving her alone with the bearded wonder, who she had decided had slightly more brains about him. He was now walking back towards her carrying more rope. Being smarter than his companion, he did not make the mistake of approaching her from the front. Instead, he tactically walked towards her from her right hand side, ensuring that he kept himself out with the cone shaped area where her legs would be able to attack him.

Kneeling down he began tying a rope to the chair leg. After a few seconds, his hand shot out and caught hold of her right leg. Trying to kick it out of his grip Anna struggled as he fed the rope around the upper region of her calf and pulled it tight, causing her to wince as it cut into her. The rope had been knotted around the chair in a fashion that did not pin her leg to it, but did not allow it to move more than half a foot away from the chair leg

Standing up the man made his way around to her other side and began doing the same thing. This time she was ready for him though as she brought her leg up and crossed it over her lap. It was only a minor victory though as he was much stronger than she was and was soon able to force her leg back into position so he could lash it to the chair in the same manner he had her other. Muttering something she could not quite hear, he finally moved in front of her and began snaking some rope around her chest above her breasts then back under them. He moved behind her to secure them at the back of her designated seat.

She had time to suck in a breath, hampered by the rope only slightly before he was back before her and roughly tied one last length of rope around her ankles, bringing them tight together. Once he was done, he then removed her shoes and let her bare feet touch the cold ground.

Anna let out a slow breath, her heart pumping in her ears. She was now tightly bound to the chair with little chance of getting herself free. In fact, her head was the only part of her that she could still freely move.

"Slightly excessive don't you think." She frowned at him. He scoffed but made no other reaction to her commentary of his knot work.

She had no time to further contemplate her bonds though as the short haired man returned, carrying a metal bucket in one hand and a thin metal rod in the other.

"Bring that over here." the longhaired man said, gesturing to the bucket.

The other man complied, and brought the bucket over and placed it on the floor in front of her feet. In a flash, Anna felt the chair being tilted back then pushed forward. As it came forward, Anna felt the cold water surround her feet as they were dunked into the bucket.

"If this is the worst you can do then you would be best to quit while you're only slightly bruised." She said, completely unfazed by the cold water of the bucket.

The two men just stood there and ignored her; they were having a whispered conversation between themselves. After a moment, one of them put a hand in his pocket and produced a coin. Showing both sides to the other man, he proceeded to toss it into the air and catch it. Placing it on his wrist with his other hand over the top of it, he then moved his hand away.

"I'm going first." The shorthaired man, who had apparently won the toss, said, his face breaking out into a cruel smile.

As he walked towards her she could now see clearly the metal rod he had brought with him, it was a cattle prod. Bracing herself Anna held her breath. There was no way to avoid what was about to happen to her. If she focused on her breathing, she would be fine. All she had to do was concentrate and they could do nothing to her. As the man touched the bucket with the end of the prod, she slowly began to regulate her breathing rhythm.

"I'm going to make you scream bitch." She just managed to hear him say, as a jolt of electricity passed through her body.

Clenching her teeth Anna had to fight to prevent herself from screaming. The pain, though instantaneous, was beyond that of what they had previously done to her. It felt as though thousands of white-hot razor sharp needles, which covered every inch of her skin, had replaced the white-hot knives of the two previous occasions. Slowly letting the air out of her lungs, she looked up at her torturer. Hate shining in her eyes.

"Huh. Looks like you're slightly tougher than I expected." The man began, his teeth were yellow and more than one or two were crooked she noted, making his smile look even worse. "Don't worry I'll have you screaming soon enough." He finished, pressing the button on the device as he did.

Another surge of pain flowed through her and she again had to fight against the urge to scream. Closing her eyes, she quickly tried to return her focus to her breathing. That was the key. So long as she could focus her mind on it and not the pain, she would be able to remain in control, of her mind if nothing else

##

Morty lay on the cold stone floor in a crumpled heap. A large bruise already covered the majority of his chest, on top of what must surely be, at least one broken rib. He had not yet passed out from the pain but that was probably only a matter of when rather than if.

Having been roughly thrown into the cell, Morty had quickly got to his feet and attempted to get past the man who had put him there. How he had intended to do that was a mystery to even him, as the man was a lot larger and far stronger than he was. Regardless he had had to try something. Anna had been taken elsewhere and he could not let them hurt her, not without at least trying to help her.

His effort had been in vain though; a single harsh kick from the man to his chest had sent him sprawling back into the cell with nothing more than the aforementioned injuries for his trouble. After he had hit the floor, he had just barely been able to make out the slamming of the cell door, before the pain had completely enveloped his senses.

Tears had rolled down his cheeks as the pain had overcome him. He had wanted to scream, like a wounded animal, but had somehow managed to stifle it. As though that made him a stronger person, irrespective of the fact that he had started to cry.

All this had happened fifteen minuets ago, although he was not to know that. Time did not have much meaning when you were in this much pain, for it had not dulled any. To Morty, it could have been as little as five minuets or as much as five hours, it would have made no difference. All he currently knew was hurt. That coupled by the fact that everything around him was beginning to look a bit blurry and slightly blacker.

Now that he thought about it, perhaps the pain was dulling slightly. His head was certainly beginning to feel a lot lighter. His limbs also come to think of it; in fact did he even have limbs? Musing over the likelihood of him no longer having limbs, Morty slowly began to notice the pain in his chest was lessening.

Why does my chest not feel sore anymore? And why is everything moving around? He felt some part of his brain ask. If an answer was forthcoming, he was unaware of it. Perhaps if I close my eyes it will stop. Yes, that might work the young shaman thought as his eyelids slid shut plunging his world into an uncomfortable darkness that wanted to suck him down into its depths.

Seconds past by, maybe longer maybe no time at all, during which that small part of himself aware that shutting his eyes had not been a good idea scrambled his senses looking for something. The sandy haired boy had about as much time as it will take you to finish this scene to realise it was not something but a pale creepy blonde-haired someone he wanted before he completely lost consciousness.

##

An hour had past since the two men had begun to torture Anna. As of yet they had given no indication as to why they were doing it, however from their taunts it was clear that they were both taking some enjoyment from it. Having kept her eyes shut throughout and attempted to keep her focus on her breathing the Itako had not heard much of their goading and had only been vaguely aware that they had both taken a turn at shocking her.

It was getting harder, both the breathing and the focusing, however it was the focusing that was going to fail first, of that she had no doubt. For the moment they had stopped, something about it being hard work and that they needed a drink, although she had given them no indication that she had heard them.

At the mention of a drink though, her mind suddenly realised just how dehydrated she was; it had been almost twenty-four hours since she had had some of the water they had brought for her and Morty to share. She would give almost anything for a drink right now. Her mouth was so dry that any liquid on her parched tongue and throat would most likely be the best thing she had ever tasted.

As she continued to sit there, not that she had any choice in the matter, she desperately tried to regain control of her breathing before the men decided to continue. How much more of this could she take before the inevitable happened, before she actually lost control of herself and screamed? More to the point how much longer were they intending to torture her. Surely, they must have had adequate revenge on her by now. It had only been a few slaps and a kick. At the end of the day it did not matter she though. She was not going to break or give in. She was not going to grovel in submission and plead with them to stop, no. She was going to stay strong and resist everything they tried to make her do. Like Yoh would.

A bead of sweat, quiet as sin, trickled down her neck leaving a cold indignant trail over her skin and she realised with a small start that besides being soaking wet, she was also becoming increasingly cold. She shivered pathetically. So focused on trying to steady her breathing and on steeling herself for the each wave of pain that she had ignored the warning signals her mind sent her. Consequently, she had completely failed to notice that she was now dripping in cold sweat. She had no time to focus on it though as a hand suddenly grabbed her chin and roughly forced it upwards tilting her neck.

Anna's eyes snapped open, as the hand applied pressure to the sides of her jaw. Had she been able to see herself she would have been disgusted by the look of terror that had spread itself across her face. The man must have seen it however as he began to smile.

"Listen here bitch." He began, his voice sounding rough and no nonsense like.

"One of our business partners has expressed interest in you and has offered us a very large sum of money for you. Now, since we have nothing to lose and everything to gain from such an arrangement, and since you have been a royal pain in the ass to have around this dump, we have decided accepted his offer." He continued.

Anna's expression of terror turned to one of shock and disbelief but apparently, he wasn't finished.

"This is how things are going to work. You are going to agree to behave in a cooperative manner when we hand you over to him or we are going to continue where we left off until we cause permanent damage. Get it? " He finished, stressing the part about continuing where they had left off.

Anna looked the man directly in the eyes, not that she had anywhere else to look as his nose was almost touching hers. She had not even fully comprehended what he had just said. All she had heard was that they, the two men who had spent the last hour torturing her, wanted her to do something, and she did not intend to do anything that they wanted.

"No." Anna replied flatly, the gaze from her dark eyes boring into his own, as though daring him to pit his will against hers.

"Wrong answer." The bearded man said after a moment, throwing her head to the left as he released his grip on her jaw. "Let's see how much longer you can suppress that scream for." He finished, stepping back from her and picking up the cattle prod.

As the man fumbled with a dial on the handle of the thin metal rod, Anna took a deep breath and closed her eyes once more. Now that she had effectively issued the challenge she could not back down, not her. Not Anna Kyoyama, when she set her will against something she did not buckle before it did, no matter how hard it was or what happened. A rock and a hard place, an idiot with a cattle prod whatever the challenge was, that was the sort of person she was.

A moment later and Anna felt the electric current flow through her body once more. Like before the shock only lasted a fraction of a second but the pain lingered on like ants nipping at her skin. She clamped her teeth together as the second shock came before the effects of the first had begun to dissipate. The pain caused by this shock was greater than it had been at any point during the first session. The man must have done something to the device she thought as she struggled to keep her breathing under control.

Again, the next shock immediately followed the second without any time to allow her to regain her composure. Anna almost lost control of both her breathing and her vocal chords. At this rate, she was going to lose control and she was going to scream, there was nothing more she could do to stop it.

After a second hour of non-stop torture, she finally caved. Her focus slipped and the cracks began appearing in her mental defences. The pain rammed against them sensing weakening structural integrity. Finally, it broke through and she was swamped by the flood of it. It turned her stomach, which retched and would have purged itself if she had anything in it to bring up. Dizzying, sickening awful pain, bursting the cells in her skin she tipped her head back and felt the long suppressed scream escape through her compressed teeth.

The shocking continued, the pain intensified, her entire defence shattered and the sound was ripped from her throat her teeth opening to let it pass. Loud, long and piercing, her vocal chords vibrated in a way they that she never even understood they could. Eventually, after she was almost hoarse, the blonde haired girl managed to regain some semblance of composure.

Gathering her scattered thoughts, she willed her defensive mental wall back into place and took in a slow deep breath. She was not beat yet, not by a long shot. Just because she had screamed did not mean that she was close to breaking. Trying in vain to return her focus to her breathing Anna let out another scream as another jolt of electricity coursed through her body.

On and on this continued, hour after hour. Every shock that passed through her was worse than a knife carving the flesh from her skin and each one drew a scream from her until she could scream no more. When this eventually happened, the shocks ceased and the pain was allowed to dissipate, until it was only a deep dull throb throughout her body.

She blinked her breathing ragged and her heart hammering as she tried to pull herself together. She made a noise as a lesser pain gripped at her scalp. Anna felt her head, which had slumped forward onto her chest, being pulled back by her hair. Wearily opening her eyes the Itako had just enough time to make out the edge of the mucky tumbler before its contents began pouring into her mouth.

Anna gagged as the warm water made its way down her throat. Coughing and spluttering she tried to force the liquid back out but to no avail. It was either swallow or suffocate she realised as the excess water slowly began to slip beyond her lips and down her face.

"Drink dammit." She was vaguely aware of a voice saying as she tried to swallow the entire contents of her mouth in one go.

Forcing the warm liquid down her throat, the blonde girl tried to pull her head away. The glass hitting her in the lips rewarded her for her trouble as the hands holding it forced it back to her mouth.

"I said fucking drink." The voice said again. "Chao I told you that last one was too much. If she's fucking brain damaged Ishida won't pay and ill shove this cattle prod up your fucking ..."

Anna coughed drowning out whatever else he was saying. The one with the goatee she realised. Which meant buzz cut was called Chao…They were giving her water the thought struck her, as more liquid poured into her mouth. Swallowing the second mouthful with more ease than the first, owing to the fact that her mouth contained only half the contents of the first, Anna slowly managed to refocus her mind.

Having no concept of how long she had been tied to the chair, the Itako could only guess at what time it was, not that that mattered in any way. For her the only thing that mattered now was that the men had just made a crucial mistake, they had allowed her time to recompose herself.

The fact that she was being given water must mean that her captors were worried that she would pass out from dehydration before she broke. In this case, they were probably correct, as even though the physical pain had been severe, it was still a long way from being worse than the emotional pain she had felt from losing her connection with Yoh over the past two days.

"Are you ready to cooperate yet?" Anna heard the man who was holding the now empty glass say.

"No." Anna eventually managed to say. Her voice may have been weak and unable to show it, but her resolve was just as strong as ever.

"You really are a stubborn one aren't you?" The man stated, almost sounding as though this fact amused him. "I doubt Ishida has any idea of what he is getting himself into in buying you." He continued, and then began to laugh.

Once the laughter had subsided goatee man said, "Still, all we need is for you to be docile enough to pass as cooperative. Once he gives us our money you're his problem and between us…" the man paused for a moment and smiled. "…I hope you give him hell." He went on, letting go of her hair and walking away from where she was sat.

"Fine you were right; it's still your turn Chao." He said turning to the other man. "But ease up will you, third setting's enough."

"Whatever." Anna heard the second man reply from elsewhere in the room, as she closed her eyes once more and prepared herself for yet another round of torture.


	17. Chapter 17

**Authors note**: Ok so it does not seem like a week since I last updated (technically it hasn't been since the last chapter was put up on Sunday). Welcome back Elpatolocosisi and thank you for the review, just take that empty seat beside Mr Johansson and we can get on with this. Also, thank you Complicatedmind21 for your review. With regards to whether or not Anna got out with the dead zone… lets just say that she was about this close *holds thumb and forefinger a short distance apart.

Ok so on with chapter 17, thanks to Kovou for editing this and please feel free to leave a review.

I **don't** own Shaman King

**Chapter 17: Frustration, Awakening and Defiance**

There are various reasons why people may choose to hide themselves, and I am not just talking about their body's either. When it comes down to it a person can chose to hide themselves in a multitude of different ways. A shared experience of many people of a certain age in the UK, is hiding behind the sofa during the supposed 'scary' parts of the science fiction show Doctor Who. Personally, I have no clue as to why anyone would find anything in a classic episode of Doctor who scary, probably because I was born about a year before the show was cancelled originally and so first saw a classic serial at about the age of twenty.

As it turns out, we are in fact only interested in one type of hiding. This type of hiding involves a person concealing ones self, in their entirety, from the view of those who they do not wish to be seen by.

When it comes down to it, this type of concealment is best carried out by using another object in order to hide ones self. The object in question may be a curtain, a door, or a wardrobe. The only trouble with that last one is that it can often lead you into a strange world where you are drawn into an adventure and fight in a war that is effectively a representation of a major religion's viewpoints and history.

Now before we are sidetracked again, has anyone been keeping count of how many times this has happened in this story so far…No? Oh well too bad. The point I was about to, and am going to, make is that when it comes to finding a place to hide, kids have the right idea. For there is no better way of hiding yourself than hiding under the bed, except for the fact that it is the most widely known about hiding place and therefore the first place someone who is looking for you is going to check, I never said that kids were smart.

Still if you happen to be in a room where there is nowhere else to hide, under the bed starts to look like a more attractive option. If you all cast your minds back, you will no doubt remember that this was the exact situation in which Yoh Asakura found himself when we last encountered him. Ok so when I say exact situation I am forgoing the part where two drunken people entered the room, singing badly I might add, proceeded to strip and climb on to the bed and just in case any of you were wondering, they were not planning to use the bed for sleeping any time soon…

Yoh lay on his stomach under the bed, desperately trying to drown out the 'noises' that were coming from above him to no avail. It was dusty under the bed, dusty, dark, dirty, dismal, depressing, and many other things beginning with the letter 'D'. It was not the actual conditions under the bed that worried the Japanese shaman at that moment. No the problem that he was faced with was considerably heavier and noisier than the poor bed which separated him from it.

Having heard the mattress sag until part of it was almost touching him, Yoh had then had to endure the interesting sound effects that the couple had been making for over two hours. On the plus side though the pair had absolutely no idea that there was a spiky haired shaman beneath them, apparently under the bed still worked on people who were not looking for you.

"This is getting ridiculous." Yoh whispered through gritted teeth, as the woman let out another shriek.

"I know Yoh, but you have to be patient." The voice of the samurai ghost whispered back reassuringly from his right.

"I have been patient for over two hours." The shaman replied irritably, as he glanced up at the clock on the wall opposite the foot of the bed; it was now five-thirty am.

"Anna and Morty have been missing for almost forty hours." He continued, sounding rather pissed off now, which was rather unusual for the normally laid-back shaman. "If I don't find them soon I could lose them for good." He finished, a hint of desperation creeping into his tone.

"I know you are frustrated with what has happened Yoh but you need to calm down." Amidamaru responded, sensing that his partner could be about to do something uncharacteristically drastic. "These humans will surely need to sleep soon. When they do you will be able to resume your search." He finished, trying to sound convincing.

Before Yoh could respond, a voice spoke up from above the group.

"No Harri…" A female voice said, sounding rather annoyed. "I am through with you." She continued, the sound of her feet coming down onto the wooden floor as she did.

"Aww come on baby I didn't mean it." The voice of the man called out from atop the bed.

"No. I've had enough..." She continued. As she did Yoh could make out the legs of the woman make their way to the front of the bed. "…You have been sleeping with someone else." She said as she bent down to pull on the blue dress that had been carelessly discarded a couple of hours previous.

"No, no babe you've got it all wrong…" The man responded in a drunken manner.

A loud thud accompanied these words. The man must have gotten up from the bed now too, Yoh thought as he watched the feet of the woman slip on a pair of heeled shoes.

"Then why did you just call me Mimi?" The woman demanded accusingly. If Yoh had been able to see above her calf's he would have just seen the woman point a long, red nailed, finger at the man.

"Y...yo...your not Mimi?" The man responded, sounding confused.

Hearing the woman let out a screech of drunken rage, Yoh watched as she moved towards the man. The sound of a slap echoed out as the man's feet staggered backwards and the woman reached the door.

"And my eyes aren't brown." The woman finished, throwing the door open and storming out of it, slamming it behind her as she went.

"Fine leave! See if I care….Mi...Uhh…whatever your name is!" The man shouted in the direction of the door. "Geeze" he finished and let out a loud breath.

From his position under the bed, the brown haired shaman watched as the man staggered back towards the side closest to the door. As he stopped in front of the bedside cabinet, Yoh turned his head so he could still see him. A moment later and he almost leapt up as the sound of something being knocked over filled his ears.

After hearing a few mumbled curses from the man, Yoh eventually heard what he thought was the sound of liquid swishing in a bottle and gulping by the man. That would explain what had just been knocked over, after which he returned to praying that the man was either about to go to sleep or leave the room. All of a sudden, the man's feet began to stagger backwards then, with an almighty crash, he fell backwards and hit the floor.

Yoh winced as he saw the man's head bounce off the moth eaten bearskin rug. That must have hurt he thought and he held his breath. After a few minuets, when it became clear that the man was not attempting to get up, the Japanese shaman crawled out from under the bed and stood up.

"It looks like he is unconscious Yoh." Mosuke said, as he floated to the shaman's side from where he had been bent over the fat proprietors head.

"Good." Yoh replied his voice laced with the cold tone of the assassin ghost.

"Should we not at least ensure that he will be ok?" Amidamaru asked, watching his partner turn his back on the man and walk towards his desk.

"No." Yoh responded coldly. "That man has been the cause of enough time wasting tonight as it is. I will not waste more by checking to see whether or not he will recover from his drunken state." He finished, not bothering to look up from the desk drawer he had just pulled out.

Placing the drawer on top of the desk, the spiky haired shaman began quickly flicking through its contents; there was no sign of an address book or anything else that might hold the location of the group's headquarters. Roughly stuffing the drawer back into the desk, Yoh turned his attention to the small cupboard on the other side of it. Gripping the handle he threw the door open to reveal…

"Nothing!" Yoh said questioningly as his eyes took in the sight of the empty cupboard. "What do I do now?" he moaned aloud, sounding both desperate and defeated. After a few moments, a voice in his ear answered.

"What's going on Yoh?" Len asked over the radio, concerned by the tone of his friend's last words.

"I've searched the guy's desk and found nothing." The Japanese shaman moaned the desperation in his voice now evident.

"Pull yourself together Yoh it is not the end of the world." Len began, trying to sound both firm and reassuring at the same time. "Now is there a computer on the desk?" He asked.

"Yes." The spiky haired shaman replied the part of his mind that was Mr Waters flicked the mouse to bring the screen to life. As he did so, Yoh glanced up at Mosuke and said. "Maybe you should roll him onto his side in case he chokes or something?"

"Ok. The man may have a digital copy of his address book on there." The Tao shaman responded in his normal know it all tone distracting Yoh from the blacksmith's nod and sudden realisation that he could not actually move the man.

"Its password locked." Yoh exclaimed as a dialogue box popped up on the screen; demanding said password.

"I'll handle that." Mr Waters said through Yoh's lips.

As he spoke the shaman had already reached to a pouch on the back of his belt and pulled out a palm sized plastic box. Flicking a USB connector out of its front Yoh wasted no time in plugging the device into the front of the computer. After a few seconds, in which the hourglass shaped cursor turned round, a new dialogue box appeared and prompted him to click the start button. Moving the mouse, Yoh clicked the green on-screen button and waited. In two minuets flat, the two dialogue boxes disappeared and the welcome screen appeared.

"Ok I'm in." Yoh exclaimed to the Chinese shaman, his hope once again renewed.

"Great. If there is an address book in there it shouldn't be too difficult to find." Len began, almost as anxious as Yoh for one to exist. "If you find one send it to me so I can run through the addresses and see if we can figure out which one we want." Len finished, hoping that there would actually be something for his friend to send him.

After a few moments of searching, which uncovered some rather interesting picture and video files, amongst other things, Yoh eventually found what he was looking for.

"Ok I've found what appears to be the guys address book." The brown haired shaman eventually said sounding quite relieved at having finally found something that could lead him to Anna and Morty.

"Right email it to me and I'll start checking through them." Len replied, eager to get to the task.

"No need." Yoh responded, sounding more like the assassin ghost. "There is actually an address hear with the label Bosses office/ Havens headquarters. Talk about sloppy." He finished, almost chuckling to himself.

"Send me it anyway just in case it's wrong and so I can find where about in the city it is." Len replied, slightly deflated at not needing to make the ghost of a computer whiz he had with him do some more work.

Opening an internet browser, Yoh quickly logged into his email account and sent a copy of the file to the Tao shaman. Once it had sent he deleted the browser history, closed it and then logged off the computer, removing the hacking device as he did.

"We had better leave now." Mr Waters said to him in his usual tone. "It may take us just as long to get back out again as it did to get in." The assassin finished, sounding quite serious.

"Not if we do it my way." Yoh replied, as he turned to face the window.

Throwing open the window, the Asakura shaman gazed down on the quiet street below. There was nothing in sight, no cars, no people, just an empty street. Perfect, he thought as he turned to face the two ghosts who were hovering behind him.

"Ok guys time to go." Yoh exclaimed in his normal cheery voice, extending his hands and grabbing the two ghosts in their spirit ball forms.

"Yoh I hope you are not about to do what I think you're about to do." Amidamaru replied from his right hand, sounding concerned.

"Relax buddy this worked a treat last time and will save us a lot of hassle." He began, ignoring the samurai's concern. "Besides we're only four floors up. Last time we fell from a few miles up." He finished, laughing as he did.

Before either of the ghosts had a chance to reply, Yoh dived out of the window and plummeted towards the ground bellow.

"Ok here we go." The shaman laughed, sounding rather amused with himself. "AMIDAMARU, MOSUKE!" He shouted, putting his Furyoku into the two spirits, just before he hit the ground.

##

Being rudely awakened in the morning is annoying, hence the word 'rudely' I guess. As it turns out, like most things in life, this can occur in as many colourful and bizarre ways as you, me, or Phil, can think off.

One such way of being rudely awakened is by the shrill voice of your aunt screeching at you to get up while rapping her knuckles on the door to your sleeping quarters. Another is by having a menacing spirit blowing in your ear, while you dream about an upcoming sporting event. Alternatively, it can also occur by the sound of the dustmen; however, that only happens on Wednesday. Finally, but most commonly, you can be woken by something that happens in a dream.

I am sure you have all had one of those dreams where you are convinced that it is real and that you cannot possibly wake up. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on the specific content of said dream, you inevitably do, wake up that is. Now the important question that you, Phil and I should all be asking here is what is it that wakes us.

To answer this question we could all go on another one of our spiritual and enlightening journeys… only to find that the answer is in fact unique to every scenario and that we have consequently wasted our time and our Furyoku.

So bypassing the entire spiritual journey mess entirely, we can move on to look at a particular case whereby the thing that has woken you in the dream is related to something that happens back in the real world. Did anyone else just have a Matrix moment there... No, just me… ok lets move on.

Since when you are sleeping you are generally in bed and have your eyes shut, the thing that wakes you is more often or not a noise of some sort, unless of course your friend's have been exceptionally cruel and placed your hand in a cup of warm water.

Having now established that it is sound we are interested in I am sure we could all go on yet another little journey of the spiritual variety, again only to find that the answer is unique to each individual case. So let us yet again ignore most of the possibilities and instead focus on a single one, screaming.

Like before, I am sure most of you will have had a dream where you have woken up just at the point where you or someone else in the dream has screamed. Now the reason for you waking, in some cases at any rate, is down to a noise in the real world breaching your subconscious and manifesting itself as the aforementioned scream. In certain cases what you can sometimes find, especially if you are the person in the dream who has done the screaming, is that you have woken up because you have actually screamed in real life. This scenario is exactly what Morty Oyamada thought had happened when he awoke in his cell.

As he returned to full consciousness, the sound of screaming still rung through his pounding skull. At first, he thought that the scream had come from him, which would make sense since he had just let out one of equal magnitude in his dream. He took a deep breath that caused a flare of agony in his sternum. Groaning, the young shaman cast his mind back to try to recall why his chest hurt so much.

There he had been, in the cell, with Anna sitting in her usual spot to his right. Then there had been a noise, what had it been? he thought willing his mind to remember. The door. It had been the sound of the door opening. Then the two men had entered the room, yes that was right. They had entered the room and one of them had opened the cell door…

Morty sat bolt upright as his mind recalled what had happened next. Wincing in pain as his chest rebelled against the action, he could see in vivid detail the next part of the memory as though it were a film. It may have only lasted a few seconds but it was quite possibly the scariest thing he had ever seen.

There was Anna sitting on the floor, motionless and unresponsive. A second later, and the man who had opened the cell had a hold of her arm and then hauled her to her feet. Then, in a flash, Anna had sprung to life and used her free hand to deliver one of her legendary left-handed slaps to the man's right cheek, sending his head into the wall.

As the man's head had battered off the wall, his grip on the Itako's right arm failed, and she was loose. In a heartbeat, the blonde-haired girl had darted through the cell door shouting at the young shaman to follow her. Stunned by Anna's actions, Morty could only watch in mix of awe and horror as she sent the second man to the floor with her trademark roundhouse while he fumbled for his weapon.

The sound of the second man hitting the floor had snapped Morty out of his state of amazement and his feet came to life. Heart hammering he had run as fast as he could to the cell door, past the first man who did not even blink as he went. Through the door he went, as Anna had thrown the door to the room open and exited it. Forward he had moved, past the second man and towards the door, then…

Morty put a hand to his right cheek as he remembered how he had next hit the floor. There he had been halfway to the door then down he had gone. Struggling, he had tried to get up only to hit the floor again. The man outside the cell had scrambled forwards and caught his ankle with his fingertips. Now he had hold of his leg in a firm grip.

Backwards Morty had been dragged, away from the door and away from freedom. Kicking against the mans grip had done no good, seconds later the man had taken hold of the sandy-haired boy's other leg and had him in a firm grip. A few moments later and the man was on his feet, with Morty held in his left arm and a gun pressed firmly against the boy's right temple.

Morty almost let out a cry, as he knew what happened next. The man had taken him upstairs and had caught Anna just before she had managed to escape. Five minuets later and he had been thrown back into the cell alone. The pain in his chest flared up again as he remembered the man's right boot coming into contact with it, sending him to the floor.

After that, there was nothing. He must have fallen unconscious after that he theorised. Turing around to face the bars Morty then realised something else, he was now alone in the cell. Where had they taken Anna? He wondered. What could they possibly want with her? For it was him they had been after, she had just happened to get in their way. As he sat there and pondered, possible reasons as to why the men would take Anna and leave him here, Morty's concentration was broken by the same thing that had woke him in the first place.

The sound of the scream filled the young shaman's ears and made him want to throw up. It was a high pitched and elongated noise, which any horror film or ghost story character would have been proud of, but above all the worst part of it was that it was most definitely feminine.

"ANNA!" Morty shouted out at the top of his voice, getting to his feet as the scream ended and silence was once again restored.

His cry was to no avail though he thought. Anna was not in the room and therefore would not likely be able to hear him. Even if she could, it would in no way, shape, or form, be of any help to the Itako.

Feeling as though he wanted to be sick again, Morty sat back down on the hard stone floor and looked at his watch; it was almost half past six in the morning. He must have been out for about six hours he mused. Lying back down in an attempt to appease his bruised ribcage, the young shaman was blissfully unaware that he had just inadvertently given his captors the solution to their current problem.

##

It was early morning when the two Chinese criminals finally admitted defeat. All night long, they had tortured the blonde haired girl, but still she defied both them and logic. How could a girl of less than eighteen years of age, have survived an entire nights worth of electric shock torture and still been able to launch a wad of spit at him when he had last asked her if she was willing to cooperate? Zhang thought.

The spitball had of course earned her a shock on the fourth setting, which had in turn caused her to scream, for all the good it did. If she had not broken after what she had been put through during the night then one more shock would not change that. Tossing the cattle prod onto the floor Zhang stepped away from the blonde girl and allowed his tired body to collapse onto the sofa beside that of his comrades.

"This isn't working." Zhang said after a moment, defeat evident in his voice.

"Then what else do you suggest we try?" Chao barked at him, annoyed that the other man had disturbed him. That and the good effects of the beer had now totally worn off, only to be replaced with the… not so nice side effects.

"I don't know." Zhang replied flatly, now annoyed himself at being expected to have all the answers. "There's not much more we can do." He continued, trying to retain control over his temper. Whether it had been ignited by his companion and his reply, or by the girls refusal to break he did not know.

"If we continue with this we're going to leave her a vegetable and Ishida isn't going to pay for a glorified potato." He went on, emphasising the point about Ishida not paying. "And we can't physically harm her as it will leave marks." He finished in a rather desperate tone that did not suit him.

"Well she isn't doing much now is she?" Chao began, a look spreading across his face that suggested it was hurting him to think. "I say we leave her until tomorrow morning and just torture her some more before we leave to meet Ishida." He continued his voice slightly louder than he intended it to be.

"That way she'll be weak enough to pass as cooperative." He finished, sounding rather impressed with both his idea and the fact that he had managed to articulate himself properly, giving his current state of hungoverness.

Zhang finished listening to his partners words and paused. That was actually a decent idea he thought, a rare occurrence indeed from the buzz-cut man's head. Before he could congratulate him though, the distant part of Zhang that was drifting asleep suddenly woke up and rang the alarm bell. This is Ishida you're trying to sell this girl to, the sensible part of his brain thought. He is going to notice that she is not cooperative and just weak from having been tortured, his brain continued.

As he turned his head, he could see his partner eagerly waiting for approval on his plan. Better say something the bearded man thought as the other man continued to look at him with a stupid grin on his face.

"Good idea Chao." He began, trying to force his tired mind to come up with something witty. "I can see exactly how that would work." He continued, still sounding as though he approved of the idea.

"We torture her until she is weak enough to pass as compliant then hand her over to Ishida. He then inspects her and discovers that she looks a fucking mess and cannot stand on her own two feet. He then figures out exactly what we have done, proceeds to toy with us and then refuses to pay for her." He finished both tiredness and annoyance evident in his voice.

"Then what the fuck do you think we should do!" Chao almost shouted back, getting to his feet as he did. "This was your stupid idea in the first place!" He continued clearly frustrated with the current situation.

At this remark, Zhang stood up himself and looked the man straight in the eyes. Before he could say anything though a noise from elsewhere in the room caused both him and Chao to turn their heads in the direction from which it had come. Still bound to the chair, Anna Kyoyama had heard the entire short argument and had begun to laugh.

"What the fuck are you laughing at you stupid bitch!" Chao roared, anger swelling inside him due to his sore head being aggravated by the sound.

"Tut tut." Anna began, trying to suppress her laughter. "If you can't even agree on what to do next…" she continued. Her voice was weak and slow but somehow she still managed to sound as though she was in control of the entire situation.

"Then you might as well quit now…" She had to pause mid sentence to take a laboured breath. "…while you're only tired and slightly beat up…" Another pause and another slow breath followed these words. "…because I'm not going to break." She went on, her words filled with defiance. "So you might as well just let me go…"

Her voice was becoming stronger now, as though something was fuelling her will. "…and save yourselves a lot of pain…" As she said this, she lifted her head to look at the two men. "…because my Yoh is going to find me and when he does…" She paused for a moment as a cold look spread across her face. "…he's going to destroy you." She finished, emphasising her last point and now sounding as though she had spent the past six hours asleep in a comfortable room, rather than tied to a chair while being tortured.

As she finished the two men looked at her with similar expressions, which were a mix of anger, shock and downright bewilderment. After a few moment of silence Chao was first to react.

"Shut it bitch!" He barked as he crossed the room and snatched the cattle prod from where Zhang had abandoned it.

"Chao don't…" Zhang began, as he saw what his comrade was about to do but he was too late.

Turing the dial on the prod to the fifth setting, which was its maximum, Chao touched the prod to the bucket and pressed the button.

Having no time to prepare any sort of mental defence Anna felt the full force of the pain wave that swept through her. As all her muscles contracted, her body went into a spasm and she screamed. Louder and longer than any of her previous screams, it ripped through the air in the same manner as the pain now ripped through her body.

As the blonde haired girls scream subsided, Zhang heard a shout coming from the other room. The boy must have heard her too he thought as he turned to look through the window. Sure enough, the boy was on his feet and staring directly at him. As he continued to watch him, an idea suddenly came to the Chinese man, and he almost kicked himself for not thinking of it sooner.

"Eww." Zhang heard his partner say, his attention returning to the room he was currently occupying.

"What is it?" The man with the beard responded, slightly annoyed at having his thought process disturbed.

"She's fucking pissed herself!" The shorthaired man replied sounding completely disgusted with this turn of events.

"Well no wonder she fucking pissed herself!" Zhang retorted, now angry with his comrade. "I told you the third setting was high enough." He finished, moving over to see whether the blonde girl was still responsive.

"Then why was it on the fourth setting when I picked it up?" Chao barked accusingly.

"Because she..." Zhang began then stopped before he finished his sentence. This was pointless he thought. The bitch had been right in that if they did not stop arguing then they were never going to break her. Recomposing himself, he decided to start again.

"Look it doesn't matter. We need to stop arguing or we are going to get nowhere." He began, trying to return his voice to a civil tone. "Now I have an idea on how to break her but it can wait until after we have gotten something to eat and drank some coffee." He finished, hopping that the lure of coffee and breakfast would sooth the other man's hangover.

"That's the best thing you have said all morning." Chao replied, the thought of some coffee and a large greasy breakfast appealing to his hung-over state. "What do we do with her while we're gone?" He continued, pointing the cattle prod at the limp form of Anna.

"She's out cold because of that last shock so she won't cause any trouble, even if she does wake up. Besides she is too well bound to escape, I made sure of that." Zhang replied, pressing two fingers against the side of Anna's neck to ensure her heart rate was normal, or at least as far as he could tell.

Satisfied that Anna would live, Zhang stood up from his crouched position in front of the blonde girl and turned to face his comrade. "Come on let's go." He said as he walked towards the door, scooping his leather jacket up from where he had abandoned it on the sofa at some point during the night as he went.

Tossing the cattle prod on the floor, where it made a resounding clatter, Chao followed the other man and exited the room, leaving the now unconscious girl in the same position she had been all night.


	18. Chapter 18

**Authors note:** Phew, right, where to start? Ok well first off I am sorry this took two weeks to post but both Kovou and I came down with the flu. Due to this, I wrote nothing and hence she had nothing to edit. Either way it is here now and that is the main thing. Unfortunately, there might be slight delays in the next few chapters due to both Kovou and myself having rather busy workloads. However please bear with me as this will be updated as quickly as possible as I would ideally like to finish it before I go back to University.

As always a big thank you to Kovou for editing this for me, and please feel free to leave any thoughts or comments you have.

I **don't** own Shaman King.

**Chapter 18: A frank exchange of views, unexpected help and decisions**

What happens when two people have an argument? Any takers? No? Ok looks as if I will have to explain this one by myself. Let us start with a hypothetical situation shall we?

Two men go into a bar; they each start drinking at the same time and have the same number of beers apiece. They, for the sake of argument and speed end up blindsided drunk and proceed to start some sort of argument with one another where no one backs down and a couple of choice swear words are used by both parties. This continues in the same inane manner for a number of minutes before one staggers into the other or throws a punch that makes contact entirely by chance. The result of this turns the hypothetical argument into a drunken fistfight come brawl, which is then broken up by the not too hypothetical looking bouncers who promptly throw the two miscreants out of the bar. They continue to fight for a few minutes then afterwards progress to staggering around a bit before collapsing into a gutter somewhere. They stay there all night and wake up in the morning with pounding headaches, smelling like piss because a passing Labrador has decided to mark its territory on their faces while they snored.

That is but one example of an argument that happens in a bar involving conspicuous amounts of alcohol. However, what about the cases that exist where alcohol has nothing to do with the matter? Well, generally speaking, we like to think of such instances as more of a sort of frank exchange of views rather than an actual full-blown proper argument.

When such an exchange of views happens, what you often find is that in the heat of the moment people say things that they do not really mean and that they will later regret. For example, if I was to turn round to my kind editor and tell her that I think she is overly critical of my chapters as she edits and is stifling my creativity. She would probably retort by pointing out fifty different instances in which I had made a typo, misspelled a word, used an incorrect word or just made a general mess of things.

At this rather harsh treatment, I would probably get defensive of my work and tell her that I felt like she was oppressing my rather fruitful way of discussing things. My editor would most likely then tell me that if I didn't like her edits that she would undo all the corrections she had thus far made and that I could go and edit my own work in future and leave her in peace. Upon hearing this suggestion, the egotistical part of my brain would almost certainly kick in and I would say something to the effect of fine I can do this thing all by myself, after which I would pick up my laptop and go off in a huff.

A week later and I would then find myself sitting where I am now, only this time I would be alone and whole heartedly regretting everything I had said to my editor, as I would be completely unable to turn my mad ramblings into something which was readable.

From this simple example, I hope you now all understand the serious problems that can occur from arguments and that the best solution to such problems is for both parties to kiss and make up. In the argument we are about to witness I hope you will all forgive me for not attempting to get the relevant people to kiss and make up as if I did I would probably end up with a horde of Yaoi fan girls taking all the good seats for the next chapter.

Yoh Asakura quickly got to his feet from the spot where he had landed on the wet ground. A few rays of the dawns first light were just starting to creep over the tops of the lower buildings and the rain which had lasted most of the night had now become a faint drizzle with most of the clouds having moved on to pastures new.

The nifty bit of spirit unity he had done to cushion the fall had work a treat, far better than the first time he had tried it. Whether this was because he had only fallen from four stories high this time, he had been prepared for it, or that he had had two ghosts all to himself he did not know and frankly did not care. The fact of the matter was that he was now back outside with the information he required and had managed to save himself a hell of a lot of time, which he could well be running short on.

Moving swiftly from where he had hit the tarmac, the brown haired shaman made his way onto the sidewalk and glanced around to get his bearings. Figuring out that he had landed on a road just around the corner from the side of the buildings he had gotten in by, Yoh turned to his left and began jogging along the sidewalk until he came to the edge of the building he had just leapt from. Sure enough as he turned the corner, he could see the road that he had travelled along to get to the pair of buildings four hours earlier.

Crossing the road as he turned into it, the brown haired shaman practically bolted back to where the motorbike waited for him. As he stepped into the ally Yoh glanced around to ensure no one had followed him before placing a hand to his chest and withdrawing the spirit of the assassin, whom he had been paired with for almost the entire night.

Back to being just himself, the shaman proceeded to unlock the now wet chains from the wheels of the bike and place them back in the sidecar. Unbuckling the belt he had worn throughout his excursion, Yoh tossed it into the sidecar and sat himself down on the seat of the bike, not caring that the seat had a large puddle of water on it, he was just glad to be outside and have a moment where he could relax.

"Ok Len I'm back at the bike." Yoh eventually said, taking in a breath of sweet fresh air afterwards.

"I suppose by doing things your way you meant jumping out of the window." Len replied dryly. "I hope no one saw you, you great oaf. Do you realise you could quite easily have ruined a good night's work by pulling a stunt like that." The Tao shaman proceeded to scold.

"Don't worry the street was empty when I did it. In fact I didn't see a soul on the way back to the bike either." The Asakura shaman responded in his usually happy go lucky tone. "So whereabouts is this group's headquarters?" He asked, eager to move away from a lecture on his decision-making and onto the more pressing matter of where he was headed next.

"Before we discuss that you had better take the headset off again so I can speak to and listen to everyone." Len replied, sensing his friends desire to move onto more important matters.

"Ok." Yoh responded, taking the headset off his head and placing it on top of the bikes petrol tank. "Right guys you know the drill, gather round." He said, indicating to the three ghosts that they should gather round the front of the bike. "Right so where are we going?" Yoh asked again, as the three ghosts huddled around the front end of the motorbike.

"I've had all the addresses from that file run through a computer." Len began, satisfied that everyone should now be able to hear him. "By the looks of what's at each of them the one that was marked as the headquarters in the file is most likely the right place." The Chinese shaman finished.

"Great!" Yoh replied, still not quite believing that it had been a simple task of reading the proprietors address book to get the information. "The file said that it was the third building in the 8th block of the 2nd sub area of the Shikamoto area of the Edogawa ward*." The brown haired shaman continued, slightly surprised that he had remembered the address from only having looked at it once.

"Yes by the looks of it that is defiantly the place." The Tao shaman answered, in his normal tone. "The only trouble is it's literally on the other side of the city." He finished, his tone suddenly turning more serious.

"Just means it'll take me longer to get there." Yoh began, completely oblivious to the serious nature in which the Tao shaman had just delivered his last comment. "I take it you're going to direct me like before?" He continued, turning his body so that he was sitting correctly on the bike.

"Yes I will but I don't think you quite understand the situation." Len replied. Had Yoh been able to see him he would have just witnessed the Tao shaman biting his bottom lip.

"What do you mean Len? What situation don't I understand?" The brown haired shaman asked, annoyed at anything that could possibly delay him setting off and sensing that his friend was about to drop a bombshell on the matter.

"Look Yoh" Len began, trying to keep a steady tone, even though he new his friend was probably about to start shouting at him again. "I'm not going to beat around the bush so I'm just going to say it." He paused for a moment before continuing. "It's almost half six in the morning where you are and the traffic is about to get hectic. By the time you get across the city to Edogawa it will most likely be about ten am or later." Before he could continue, the Japanese shaman interrupted him.

"What are you getting at Len?" Yoh demanded.

"What I'm trying to say is that you have been up all night and in spirit unity for nearly eight hours solid." The Chinese shaman continued, almost wishing that he did not have to be the one to say this. "That combined with another three and a half to four hours of driving will most likely leave you completely exhausted, entirely useless and totally vulnerable." He paused for a breath before he summed up his point. "I think you should go home for a bit, get some rest, have something to eat and then head out for Edogawa later tonight." He finished, letting out a loud sigh as he did, waiting for the hammer to fall.

Had Yoh not moved himself so that he was sitting on the bike properly he would have surely fallen off upon hearing the Tao shaman's words.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I SHOULD GO HOME!" Yoh burst out, obviously not agreeing with the Tao shaman's logic.

"Listen to me Yoh." Len began, trying to keep his own voice under control as his own short temper flared. "You must be tired after everything you have done tonight and you will need to be at full strength to breach this group's stronghold." He finished, hoping that he could somehow sooth his friend's anger and frustration once more.

"I'm fine Len." Yoh began, his voice lowering slightly. "I can handle it. Now just tell me where to go." He continued, trying to pass over his friend's idea and get him to cooperate.

"Yoh please listen to me" The Chinese shaman began, trying to remain uncharacteristically calm and be the voice of reason. "Getting into this place is going to be far more difficult than the brothel you just left. If you get there and you are tired you could easily be caught and lose Anna and Morty for good."

"I don't have the time to have a nap Len!" The spiky haired shaman exclaimed, his anger slowly building again. "I wasted enough time listening to that fat man and his woman enjoy play time. If I waste any more I _**will**_ lose Anna and Morty for good." He continued, determined to make his friend see his point of view.

"You hear about this sort of situation on TV. If you don't find people who have been kidnapped in the first seventy-two hours from the time they are taken then you have almost no chance of finding them after that. Anna and Morty have been missing for almost forty-three. That means I have less than thirty hours left to find them and I'm not wasting any of them just so I can have a nap." He finished, sounding as though his mind was already made up.

Before Len could respond however, Amidamaru broke the silence that had been maintained by the three ghosts' and tried to intercede.

"Yoh." He began, in an attempt to get his partners attention focused on him and away for the headset from which Len's next argument was waiting to come. "I know you are scared that if you waste any more time you will be unable to find Lady Anna and Lord Morty." He continued, as the brown haired shaman turned his attention to him. "But I think it would be unwise to ignore Master Len's advice on the situation."

"Amidamaru and the Tao boy are right Yoh." Mosuke added hopping that an extra voice in support of Len's plan would help change the Asakura shamans mind. "Besides you look like you have just finished on of Lady Anna's workouts."

"I already said I was fine." Yoh retorted, in a rather harsh tone. "The last thing I need right now is for you to disagree with me on this." As he finished he turned back to face the headset. "Listen Len." He began in the same harsh tone he had just used on his guardian ghost.

"I've made my decision and I'm heading for Edogawa now whether you decide to help me or not." His tone was defiant, unyielding.

"YOH DON'T BE AN IDIOT!" The Tao shaman retorted, finally losing his cool and resorting to his normal method of negotiation. "If Mosuke is telling the truth and you look as though you have just worked yourself into the ground then you are going to get yourself killed." He continued, trying to force the stubborn Japanese shaman to see sense. "And what will happen to Anna and Morty then? Answer me that Yoh." He finished, challenging his friend to come up with an answer in the same way he had once challenged him to mortal combat.

"FINE!" Yoh replied, completely ignoring the Tao shaman's question. "I'll get there myself." He finished, considering the matter closed.

"FINE!" Len shouted back. "I'm not going to sit here and help you kill yourself." He continued, finally giving up on making the Asakura shaman see reason. "Mr Waters you are to return my fathers sushi restaurant and await further orders."

On hearing, this remark Yoh snatched the headset from where it sat on the bikes petrol tank and threw it into the sidecar. Picking up his helmet, the spiky haired shaman thrust it onto his head and buckled it tight.

"Come on guys lets go." He practically barked at the two guardian ghosts, as he slid the keys into the ignition and sparked the bikes engine into life.

At this, the two guardian ghosts looked at each other. Silently they both agreed with Len, but neither intended to let their friend head to Edogawa alone. Sighing, Amidamaru looked at his partner and fixed him with a solemn look before he spoke.

"We are with you Lord Yoh." The samurai said half-heartedly. He did not agree with his partner's current actions but there was nothing more he could do to change his mind and he was obligated. It was his duty to protect Yoh.

As the two guardian ghosts floated behind Yoh the ghost of the assassin, who had look disinterested in the entire exchange, suddenly moved in front of the bike as if to block the shaman from exiting the ally.

"You heard what Len said" Yoh said as he revved the bikes engine. "Shouldn't you be running off back to the sushi bar?" intending to drive straight through the ghost.

Mr Waters just stared at the young shaman and did not move. As Yoh kicked the bikes stand off the ground, he eventually spoke.

"Do you even know how to get to Edogawa?" He asked in his usual cold monotone.

Upon hearing the assassin's question, the brown haired shaman's hand let go of the throttle. He had only ever been to Edogawa once and that had been with Anna. They had gone there a few days after he had dodged an evening dumbbell session, Anna claiming that she wanted to visit the Kasai Rinkai Park**.

He had been sceptical at first, as it was unlike Anna to let him miss an entire days training, however the Itako had been true to her word and they had spent an enjoyable day wandering the park. It had only been when the bus had arrived to take them back to Funbari, that Anna revealed that she only had enough money for one ticket and that he had to run home. It had been three o'clock in the morning when he finally got home. Only to find a note on his bed room door telling him that he had to be up at seven am for decathlon day, and that for every minuet after midnight that he had taken to get home he would be doing an extra one in the electric chair as part of the warm up for said decathlon.

Seeing the blank look on the young shaman's face, the assassin spirit spoke again.

"I did not think so." The ghost continued, giving no hint as to his intentions.

"I'll figure it out." Yoh replied, not sure how, just that he had to get there.

"I will admit I have never been to the place in question but I know the Edogawa ward quite well and would surely be able to help you find it." He went on, for a second Yoh thought he saw a smile flicker across the ghost's face.

"But Len ordered you to go back to the sushi bar." The Asakura shaman said quizzically.

"True." Mr Waters began. "He also said he did not intend to help you kill yourself." He continued, showing that he had in fact been paying attention to the conversation.

"Master Len is as stubborn as you are Master Yoh but I know he does not want to see you harmed. And there is more chance of you getting yourself killed if you try and navigate your way there through Tokyo rush hour, trust me I'm a car crash victim." He went on, letting out a cold chuckle at his own sick joke. "Besides none was the condition of how or when I was to return to the sushi bar." He finished, a twinkle appearing in his dark eyes as he did.

Looking at the ghost Yoh could not help but smile. He had been told on multiple occasions that he had a knack for getting the best out of both ghost's and people, and this is but more proof of the fact.

"Ok" The spiky haired shaman replied. "Direct me in the way you did before." He finished. As he did, he lifted his right hand from where it sat holding the throttle and took hold of the grey spirit ball form of the assassin ghost.

"WATERS. SPIRIT FORM. UNITY!" Yoh cried out as he merged the Assassin ghost's spirit with his own for the third time in the past twelve hours.

Feeling the now familiar consciousness of the assassin ghost merged with his own, Yoh twisted the throttle, released the handbrake and guided the bike out of the tight ally. After a few moments of quiet deliberation, the young shaman turned the bike to the right and accelerated the bike back down the same road he had taken to get to the ally during the night. As the two guardian ghosts hurried to catch up Yoh and Mr Waters had a shared thought; it was good to be back on the road.

[* For those of you who are interested, Tokyo is split up into 23 separate wards (cities) each with its own elected council and mayor. An address in Tokyo is written as follows: 2 8 3 [Shikamoto] [Edogawa] [Tokyo]. From right to left this is read as: City (Tokyo), Ward (Edogawa), Area in Edogawa (Shikamoto), Building number (3), City block number (8) and finally the sub area number (2).

When navigating Tokyo it is in fact even more complicated than the address makes it out to be, in that the numbering system does not follow a conventional system. When buildings were first built in the area they were given numbers pertaining to the order in which they were built. Hence, the first building built was number one, the second number two and so on. The problem with that is that today there can be multiple blocks now separating buildings 1 and 2, and you can end up with a situation where building 3 is beside building 148.

** Kasai Rinkai Park is a park in Edogawa. It includes attractions such as an aquarium, a bird sanctuary, and a large Ferris wheel that offers views of Edogawa, Tokyo bay and Mount Fuji. ]

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Somewhere in China. In a large room near the top of castle Tao, the heir to the Tao family legacy stood with a look on his face that was a mixture of worry and… pissed off-ness. As he passed back and forwards, his guardian ghost floated behind him with a worried expression of his own on his ancient face.

"Ok Yoh I'm sorry." The Tao shaman said into the mouthpiece of the headset he was wearing; it was the fifth time he had tried to speak to the Japanese shaman. When no response was forthcoming, he decided to try once more. "Look Yoh I'm sorry for getting angry with you please just answer me." Len tried again, actually managing to sound genuine, even though he still thought his friend was being stupid.

"DAMN IT YOH!" Len practically screamed as he ripped the headset from his head and threw it against the wall. It cracked and landed in a heap.

Kicking the corner of a box that was poking out from underneath the desk he had been sitting behind for most of the night, the Tao shaman began to pace the room at an increased tempo. After a few moments of silence his guardian ghost, Bason, finally decided it was safe, or at least as safe as conversation with Len could ever hope to be, to speak to the young heir.

"Master Len." Bason finally ventured tentatively.

"What is it Bason? Can't you see that I am busy?" The Tao shaman barked.

"I do Master Len it's just…" The Chinese warrior began, before his partner cut him off.

"Just what Bason! Spit it out share with the rest of the class…come one." Len interrupted, annoyed that the ghost had a, bothered to annoy him and b, was taking his time about getting to the point.

"Well it's just that…" The ghost began again, before being interrupted once more.

"Damn it Bason if you do not get to the point I'm going to make you spend a week at Yoh's…." The Tao shaman paused to emphasise his next point. "…after Anna gets home" he finished, a wicked smile spreading over his face as he said those last words.

Upon hearing the latest threat to his afterlife, the long-suffering Chinese warrior let out a low sigh before responding.

"Perhaps if you explain the problem to me I can help you come up with a solution." He finally said, hoping that his remark would not irritate the already annoyed shaman further.

"Why could you not just have said that in the first place?" Len replied, as though he was actually the long-suffering one.

"I tried to Master Len but you kept interrupting me." Bason replied in a low voice, hoping that his partner would either not hear him or ignore the remark.

"What was that Bason?" The Chinese shaman responded, staring daggers, or Kwandos to be more accurate, at the once Chinese general.

"Nothing Master Len. Please continue." The ghost sighed, deciding that today was not the best of days to try to argue with his partner.

"Good." Len began, smirking slightly at once again at ending his partner's protests.

"The problem Bason is that Asakura is being a complete idiot and is not going to stop before he either finds Anna and Morty or gets himself killed." He continued, in the usual tone he liked to use when speaking to the ghost. "And between you and me it is more likely the latter that is going to transpire." He finished, sounding both rather pensive and grave about the possibility of losing his best friend.

"Then what can we do to help him?" Bason replied in a serious tone, he too did not like the idea of Yoh being sent to an early afterlife.

"From here… nothing." The Tao shaman began, sounding annoyed again. "Yoh ignored everything I tried to say to him over the past fifteen minuets, I think he has taken the headset of as all I can hear is the sound of the bikes engine." He continued, sounding uncharacteristically concerned. "We need to find some way of getting back to Japan before he either gets killed or does something that causes us to lose Anna and Morty for good." He finished, sounding both desperate and genuinely concerned for his friends.

Had the situation not been as serious, the Chinese warrior would have most likely made some comment as his partners progress in becoming a more caring individual. However now was not the time for group hugs so, instead Bason said the first thing that seemed to fit the situation.

"How do you intend to do that Master Len?" The warrior ghost replied, trying to force all thoughts pertaining to his partner's emotional state out of his mind.

"I don't know Bason." The Tao heir answered in a rather irate manner. "At a fast pace we are a three day horse ride to the nearest village and we have no faster way of getting there." He finished, his mind desperately searching for a faster way of getting back to Japan.

"What if we used giant spirit control?" Bason ventured. "I could cover the distance quicker than a horse and we would not need to stop as long for rest." He finished a hint of pride in his voice.

Len considered the idea for a moment, and then wanted to hit himself for not thinking of it.

"Good idea Bason." He began, genuinely surprised that the ghost had came up with the idea when he had not. "We could use giant spirit control to get us to the nearest town and then…" The Tao shamans face fell as his brain calculated the rest of the journey. "No that will still take to long. We would have to then ride a train to the nearest airport and have my jet take us back to Japan. All in all it would still take a total of two to three days." He finished, slumping himself down in the chair he had occupied for most of the night.

"Then why don't we bypass the train and plane and just use giant spirit control all the way to Japan." Bason offered helpfully, hoping that there could be a use for his suggestion yet.

"I suppose that would be a more direct route." Len said as he pondered this new idea. "I should have enough Furyoku to make the journey and we could cover ground pretty quickly." He mused, still looking for a flaw in the idea. "The only trouble with that idea would be that…" he paused as his mind finally spotted the flaw he new had to exist. "…last time I checked you could not walk on water Bason." He finished, annoyed that his partner had suggested the idea without realising such a fatal flaw.

Bason looked at his partner with a puzzled expression. Which soon changed to one of apology as he finally remembered that there was in fact a large body of water between china and Japan.

"I am sorry Master Len I forgot about the sea." The ghost of the Chinese warrior replied annoyed with himself for forgetting such an important factor.

Before Len could respond with one of his usual comments, there was a knock at the door, which promptly opened. From behind the door, a head of green hair poked its way into the room.

"Cooee, Len." The high-pitched voice of the Tao shaman's elder sister Jun called to him, one of her usual smiles on her face.

"What do you want Jun." Len barked at her, annoyed by the interruption.

"No need to be so rude Lenny. I just came by to see how my baby brother was getting on with his rescue operation." Jun replied in the sickly sweet voice that she reserved solely for annoying her brother.

"Well for your information it's not going so well." Len retorted he really did hate when his sister referred to him as Lenny, and that stupid voice of hers just made it sound even worse.

"Why what ever has happened?" The Dàoshì replied, dropping the mocking tone and reverting to one of concern.

"Yoh is being foolish and has decided to go it alone." The Tao heir replied in defeat.

"Does he know what he is doing?" The green haired girl replied as she made her way into the room and stood before her brother.

"No he doesn't" Len responded, annoyance flaring up in his voice again. "And unless Bason and I can figure out some way of getting back to Japan in a day he is most likely going to get himself killed." Len finished, not meaning to take such a tone with his sister for it was not her fault.

"Oh dear" Jun gasped as she realised just how severe the situation had now become. "Does he at least still have that assassin ghost that you lent him?" She asked, unsure of what else to say.

"No." Len began, as he did, he let out a low breath as he realised exactly what he had said earlier. "I told Mr Waters to return to the sushi restaurant." He continued, and then his eyes lit up slightly as a thought came to him. "However that may just buy me some more time." He went on, his hope of getting to Yoh in time slightly restored.

"Why is that?" Jun pressed, wanting to know as much as she could about the situation so that she could help in any way possible.

"Because without him it will, hopefully, take Yoh the rest of the day to actually get to Edogawa." Len began, doing a mental calculation on how much longer it would take Yoh as he did. "Once he gets there he will still have to find the place and that could take him just as long." He continued, adding up the hours in his head as he finished.

"But I don't see how that helps you get to Japan?" Jun replied, not quite following her brothers logic.

"It doesn't, but the longer it takes for Yoh to the find the place the more time I have to get there." Len went on, sensing that all may not yet be lost. "Ok so it is most likely that he will find the place before midnight but at least then it will be easier for him to break in." The Tao shaman continued, praying that his guesswork was not short of the mark. "From what I have found out about the size of the building it will probably take him twice as long to navigate his way around. Which means, if Anna and Morty are not there, then I have at least twenty-four hours to find him before he heads off to wherever it is that they are being kept." He finished, sounding rather satisfied with his new appraisal of the situation.

"But how does that keep him from being killed Master Len?" Bason interjected, he too did not quite understand how this helped matters.

"It wont." Len replied flatly. "We can only hope that he has enough strength to handle things if they do not work out." He finished hoping that his faith in Yoh's abilities was not misplaced.

"So how do you intend to get to Japan in twenty-four hours?" The Dàoshì asked quizzically.

"I haven't …quite figured that out yet." The Tao shaman replied his expression becoming grimmer as the subject was broached once more. "The best we have been able to come up with is to use giant spirit control and literally run to Japan but the problem with that is…" Len did not get a chance to continue as his sister finished his sentence for him.

"…Bason can't walk on water." Jun said, a faint smile spreading across her face.

"How did you know that was the problem?" Len demanded, unhappy at having the words taken from his mouth.

"Well it's a tad obvious isn't it?" The green haired girl replied, sounding slightly smug. "Or did you two miss the part in geography where they explained that there is a sea between China and Japan." She finished, almost mocking both her brother and his guardian ghost.

"Then what do you suggest we do?" Len asked irritably, he hated when his sister got to him like this.

Jun stood there for a moment and look at her brother while she thought. After a few moments, she finally opened her mouth to reply.

"Why don't you speak to father?" She eventually said, fully aware that this was not quite the response her brother would be hopping for.

"Why on earth do you think I would want to have another unpleasant conversation with that man?" Len demanded, as though it was high treason for his sister to even mention the idea of him having another conversation with his father.

"Because I think you have the right idea" The grain haired girl began, choosing her words carefully. "Giant spirit control will be the quickest way for you to get there but…" She turned to look at the warrior ghost. "No offence Bason but I don't think you are quite cut out for this one." She continued, a smile now playing on her lips. "Hence why you should speak to father." She finished, trying to encourage her brother to work out the answer for himself.

"I still don't see why talking to father…" Len stopped mid sentence as his brain finally caught up with his sister's train of thought. As the final piece of the puzzle slotted into place a grin slowly began to widen on the Tao shaman's lips, something that had most likely never happened when a conversation with his father was on the cards. "Junie I could kiss you." He said, sounding almost ecstatic as he darted past his sister and out the door. "Come on Bason!" He shouted from halfway down the corridor.

"But I still don't understand the plan Master Len." Bason called out long-sufferingly as he floated off after his partner.

Well that is better thanks than I normally get, Jun thought as she leisurely wandered out of the room, closing the door from behind her. From the end of the corridor, she could just make out the voice of the Chinese warrior as he tried to ascertain what exactly his shaman was planning to do, and why he was dashing towards a conversation with his father.

Men, Jun decided. All it took was a teeny bit of prodding in the correct direction and they came to the idea as easily as they would had they thought of it themselves, entirely under the delusion of course that they had.


End file.
